Description
From Publishers Weekly This tight, literary, cliché-free novel, the second in British author Herron's Zoë Boehm series (after Down Cemetery Road ) but the first to be published in the U.S., finds the Oxford private detective investigating three mysteries: a 12-year-old purse snatcher's plunge from the roof of a seedy London high-rise and the separate murders of two middle-aged women. Boehm suspects the women's deaths are linked to their dating Alan Talmadge, a Motown-humming Bluebeard who preys on women whose age is edging them out of the singles scene. Boehm believes Talmadge pushed the two women to their deaths, into a subway track and a ditch of water, respectively. Herron's writing includes some fine images: "when she coughed, it racked through her like she was a wardrobe full of empty coathangers." The hunter becomes the hunted as Boehm seeks refuge deep in the country, with a friend who keeps ostriches, of all things. This plot is intriguing from opening to denouement. Point-of-view switches could confuse some readers, and the capture of one perpetrator is postponed for a sequel, but this doesn't dim Herron's gift for action, dialogue and, most of all, psychology and setting. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From Booklist Those who believe actions speak louder than words may not appreciate this extremely wordy novel whose action is limited to the last 50 or so pages. What saves the story--and indeed makes it thoroughly worth reading--is its complex and fascinating heroine, Zoe Boehm. Reluctantly leaving Oxford for London, private investigator Zoe meets with Amory Grayling, who asks her to look into the death of his assistant, Caroline. Although Caroline's death initially seems to be an accident, her mysterious boyfriend is not present at the funeral, raising Amory's eyebrows. Zoe knows that finding Alan Talmadge is the key to finding the truth about Caroline. Meanwhile, Zoe struggles to find some joy in life after shooting a man to death (in self-defense) and finding a lump in her breast. If future books find Herron letting Zoe's voice dominate rather than his own, this could become the fine series its central character deserves. Give it a chance. Jenny McLarin Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Features & Highlights
- Zoë Boehm doesn’t do death. It’s a rule. Yet here she is—in this new ambitious detective novel from the sure-footed Mick Herron—worried by three of them. Zoë herself has killed a man, and self-defense or not, it cripples her emotions still. She also remembers Wez, a twelve-year-old kid afraid of heights, who tumbled to his death from the top of a tower block; she knew him when he was nine and snatching purses from middle-aged ladies. Then, there’s Caroline Daniels. They’re saying that Caroline’s death was accidental: that she fell off the crowded underground platform and died beneath the wheels of an oncoming train. Nonetheless, Caroline’s employer, Amory Grayling, is disturbed. Caroline, it seems, had recently acquired a lover who remains mysteriously faceless and nameless. So it is that Zoë begins searching for a man whom no one knows by attempting to uncover the secrets locked in the heart of a woman she has never met. Though the questions outnumber Zoë’s answers, she is certain that Caroline did not fall accidentally to death. Nor did Wez, she comes to realize, and soon finds herself dangerously pursuing two murderers, though one of them may find her first.
