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Thomas Dunne Books, Sep 2007
Reviewed by Kerrie Smith
Classification: Crime/Thriller
Joe Trumbull lives and works in Kingston, New York State, the town he was
born in. Joe is a probation officer, not a parole officer, as he hastens
to tell you. As a probation officer he works for the court, advising the
judge on a sentence that will keep the offender out of prison. If an
offender is given a probation period, then Joe tries to help them from
re-offending. His best friend is Howie, going back all the way to
elementary school. Howie is a detective on the Kingston police force and
usually the connection is useful.
Howie and his wife Elaine have always been there for Joe, and never more
so since the unsolved murder of his fiancée Laurel three days before their
wedding. Two years since the murder, Joe goes on a blind date, feeling
that he is ready for a new social life. The date with Marlene goes well,
or at least Joe thinks it does, but the next day she doesn’t answer his
phone calls. Late that night Howie comes to collect Joe and his worst
fears are realised. The nightmare starts again.
It took me a little while to get into this story, but once I did I was
caught up in Joe’s own disbelief that this could be happening to him
again. Are women being killed because they have a connection to him? Or,
is he, as the detectives investigating the case seem determined to prove,
actually the murderer? When a third woman is murdered it seems that there
really is a case against Joe. We see events through Joe’s eyes and this
adds to the puzzle. I didn’t pick the way this book would end and the
tension built well.
I enjoyed the back-stories that Steve Hamilton was able to weave around
the main thread of this book. There are lots of little stories about
probationers and their families that Joe has dealt with, the successes and
the failures. The “good cop, bad cop” scenario of the investigating team
was done well too.
NIGHT WORK is Steve Hamilton’s first stand-alone novel. His series
featuring Alex McKnight has seven titles. His first novel A COLD DAY IN
PARADISE won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press Award
for Best First Mystery by an Unpublished Writer. Once published, it went
on to win the MWA Edgar and the PWA Shamus Awards for Best First Novel,
and was short-listed for the Anthony and Barry Awards. In 2006 he won the
Michigan Author Award. His website at
http://www.authorstevehamilton.com/ contains extensive information
about all his books, and includes a multi-media tour of NIGHT WORK’s
Kingston locations.
Nov 2007 review cross-posted on Library Thing
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