Like the author, I've spent time as managing editor (and reporter and copy editor) of a newspaper, albeit something like 429 miles from big-time New York City. Unlike the author, though, I couldn't write a word of fiction if my life depended on it. No matter - he does it so well that I was perfectly content to kick back, pull out my Kindle and enjoy the heck out of this one.
It is that print/TV/news "connection," of course, that initially prompted me to request an advance review copy (thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for making that happen). But it was the intricate, well-written plot, with all its twists and turns, that hooked me from the beginning and didn't let go till the end (and then some). In short, it's one of the best books I've read in quite some time.
The star of the show is Clare Carlson, a newspaper reporter-turned-TV news director - the latter a position she earned in large part because of earning a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the disappearance of 11-year-old Lucy Devlin back in her newspaper days. When Lucy's long-suffering mother claims to have new information on her daughter's disappearance, Clare's TV boss agrees to do an update on the missing child story (bringing to my mind one of the things I hate most about TV news - a reporter shoving a microphone into the face of a grieving family member). But I digress; Clare agrees, and when she meets with Lucy's mother, she learns the woman is dying of cancer. Apparently, the mother has been informed of someone who saw her young daughter with a motorcycle gang - a gang to which the girl's ex-husband once belonged.
With her boss's approval, Clare starts to dig (after all, she's got a stake in the case as well as in the success of the TV update). The trail leads to a "biker chick" who claims to have seen Lucy way back when - with a man who's now in the running for a big-time political office. Clare is in awe of the guy (and it doesn't hurt that he's an unmarried hunk), but she's suspicious as well. Then, bodies of other young children are unearthed, and Clare suspects they may be related to Lucy's case and once again begins to dig in.
But surprise - as any good reporter knows, there's always more to a story than meets the eye or ear. Now it's time to get serious - and in the process, unearth some news that Clare would be happy to keep buried.
Well done - highly recommended!
And for my blog only - with our income tax refund and summer on the way, I decided to take the plunge and buy a Kindle Paperwhite to make it easier for me to enjoy reading on our sunny deck. Wow - what a difference! I'm hooked - and highly recommend this as well!
Yesterday's News by R.G. Belsky (Oceanview Publishing, May 2018); 2106 KB.
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