 |
|
Quercus/Murdoch Books, This edition first published
October 2006
Reviewed by Sally Roddom
Murder Mystery
Scott Weiss is a middle-aged former police officer turned private
detective. His partner is Jim Bishop, a younger man with a taste for women
and drugs. Weiss and Bishop fell out in the second book in this series,
SHOTGUN ALLEY. In this third book, DAMNATION STREET, Weiss is searching
for Julie, a prostitute he has feelings for but has never actually met.
Julie went into hiding in DYNAMITE ROAD, the first in the series. She is
running from John Foy aka Shadowman, a pathological killer who Weiss and
Bishop have come up against before. Foy is obsessed with killing her.
Julie phones Weiss begging him not to look for her because Foy will follow
him. Weiss ignores the pleas, thinking if he finds Julie he can keep her
safe. He also believes he can lure Foy out into the open using Julie as
bait. As Weiss traces Julie’s call and starts following her trail he
learns there is more to her than meets the eye. Predictably, Foy follows
Weiss, intent on being led to his much desired killing frenzy, while
Bishop takes up the chase after he discovers some crucial information
about Foy.
DAMNATION STREET was not a good read. Part of this was that I hadn’t read
any of the previous books, so I was immediately at a disadvantage as
author Andrew Klavan didn’t backtrack previous threads very well to bring
readers up to speed. The other reason I did not enjoy the book was the
graphic sex, and dreadful violence. The story didn’t flow; it was jerky
and presumed that all the back stories were already known to the reader.
The characters were not brought alive for me – they were just characters
on a page. There was no depth, no empathy with any of them. The story
zipped along pretty quick earning its thriller tag. But the ending was
basically a non-event. There was certainly build up, but it was a build up
to nothing.
April 2007 review originally published on Murder & Mayhem
All cover art used at Reviewer's Choice Reviews is copyrighted by the
respective publisher. All reviews and articles found at Reviewer's Choice
Reviews are the sole property of the contributor and are copyrighted by
the same.
|
