THE RULE OF THREES

4 stars out of 5

Given an ending that left me bewildered, a rather unrelatable main character and a plot I'd describe as disjointed, I'm almost surprised that overall I enjoyed reading this so-called novella - the latter a description I also don't understand since it's only a few pages shorter than many of the books I read these days. But aside from all that, while it's far from my favorite book by one of my favorite authors, the "stuff" in between the covers was enticing enough to keep me flipping through the pages almost nonstop. And yep, he's still a favorite author.

Special Agent Constant Marlowe - yes, you read that first name right - comes to Illinois small-town Clark Valley to commandeer an investigation into the brutal murders of a couple of local women. Not surprisingly, I spent a quite a bit of reading time wondering who on earth would give a name like that to a child, but I never found out (apparently, there are a few earlier books that include her in which it may have been explained, but I've not read them). Also not surprisingly, the local tobacco-chewing Sheriff resents her presence - don't they always? There's a contingent of Native Americans living in the area, one of whom, Zo Eventide, works with the sheriff and, partly because she's a female with a fierce sense of justice and fairness, forms an immediate bond with Constant.

Also in the mix is a group of neo-Nazis, who mostly keep to themselves; but at the moment, they're at a standoff with the aforesaid Native Americans over ownership of a plot of land. For whatever reason, Constant finds herself in the middle of that brouhaha as well - as if she doesn't have enough to do trying to track down a killer who leaves precious few clues. At least she can hold her own physically; she's been a professional boxer, and I have to say some of the scenes in which that comes into play are satisfying.

One local family (a husband, wife, daughter and son plus an older son who mysteriously went missing) become the focus because they were in the same area of the park as one of the murders at the same time and thus may have seen things they shouldn't have (even though they say they didn't). The hope is the killer will return to eliminate the potential witnesses and the cops will nab him (or her) before that happens.

There are several surprises along the way, keeping the story moving along - right up to that ending that I still don't "get." But I do know I'll be keeping a constant lookout for the next Constant - I can't say she'd ever be my BFF, but she sure is an interesting character. Many thanks to NetGalley, via the publisher, for the opportunity to get to know her by way of a for-review copy.

The Rule of Threes by Jeffery Deaver (Amazon Original Stories, March 2024); 261 pp.

RAIN WILL COME

4 stars out of 5

Virtually every character in this fast-paced game of cat-and-mouse between a serial killer and the longest-tenured detective in the Illinois Bureau of Judicial Enforcement is seriously flawed. Killer Daniel Longdon, a self-ascribed avenger of injustice, is dying of a glioblastoma and hoping to get to the last person on his hit list before the tumor gets him. Detective Paul Czarcik, a basically good cop, struggles with injustice as well; but his method of dealing with it is through smoking, alcohol and, in a pinch, snorting drugs. On the other hand, he tends to experience real physical reactions to certain words and phrases (perhaps as a result of his drug habit, perhaps not) that turn out to be helpful investigative clues.

Czarcik, who isn't on the best of terms with his superiors, is called to the scene of a double homicide in which the male victim's head is missing. Sensing that the scene may have been somehow staged, he notices a clue he suspects may tie in with a previous case - and turns out he's right. But when a man confesses to the double homicide, the police powers-that-be are satisfied and want the investigation to go away; not so Czarcik, who's certain this is the work of a serial killer who isn't likely to stop. Off he goes on his own, then, to get to the truth.

Along the way, he gets help from an unlikely - and potentially untrustworthy - source. Readers, meanwhile, get a glimpse of what's in the killer's mind (besides the tumor) through interspersed chapters that shift to his perspective. All told, it's an exciting - and for whom it may make a difference - and fairly gory game of who will win the chase that's being played out in both psychological and physical ways; can Czarcik out-think Longdon and track him down before Longdon does the same to him?

 Overall, it's entertaining and well worth reading, and I'm looking forward to the next one. But note to myself: next time, be sure to check the stack of pre-release review books from publishers before coughing up a couple of bucks for an Amazon First Reads book that turns out to be already in said stack from NetGalley!

Rain Will Come by Thomas Holgate (Thomas & Mercer, April 2020); 301 pp.

ARE YOU SLEEPING?

4 stars out of 5

In the end, I enjoyed this book - but it was the plot, not the characters, that turned the tide. For much of the first half, all I did was mutter to myself how much I detested main character Josie Buhrman (and to a slightly lesser extent, her twin sister Lanie). The latter sister struck me as the "evil" twin, just as apparently she did to the characters in the book who knew her. Josie was another story; she spent most of her time berating other people for their lying ways when she was arguably the biggest liar of them all.

To be fair, the now-estranged Josie and Lanie had it tough growing up. Their mother had some kind of mental illness, their father was murdered 13 years earlier, and not long thereafter, the mother ran off to join a hippy-dippy cult. If there was a saving grace, it was that their father's killer was caught and convicted - identified by Lanie, who claimed to have seen him do the dastardly deed. Throughout his years in jail, though, he's insisted that he's innocent.

Not long after their mother abandoned them, Josie left home, ending up in New York with her partner, Caleb, and zero intentions of ever going back to visit once-treasured relatives. But then, a self-described "investigative" reporter named Poppy Parnell reveals a podcast which she claims will shed new light on the twins' father's murder. Was a man wrongly convicted? Did Lanie, who changed her original story that she'd seen nothing, lie on the witness stand? And if those things are true, who is the real murderer and what was the motivation?

The podcast, downloaded by thousands including Josie, opens up old family wounds - especially, it seems, for the twins' mother; not long after the first one appears, she is found dead on the cult's property, clearly a suicide. Now, Josie feels compelled to return home for the funeral of the mother she loved, hoping to avoid interaction with anyone else. She also doesn't want to interact with Caleb, who's ready and willing to accompany her. Why? Simply because everything she's told him about herself is a big fat lie, including her last name - which she changed to rid herself of the stigmas of her past and live in relative anominity.

Although she was given ample opportunity and good reason to 'fess up, Josie refuses to come clean - reasoning that her beloved Caleb just wouldn't understand and would exit stage left. Instead, she manages to convince him to stay put while she heads home alone. If I didn't already dislike her, that sealed the deal for sure.

From then on, much of the story focuses on Josie's encounters with family members, most notably her sister, interspersed with text of the podcasts and readers' reactions as they are released. As tensions begin to heat up, Josie gets a surprise visitor; and from that time forward, the story starts to move quickly, capturing my attention to the somewhat-of-a-twist ending.

My conclusion? If you can stand neurotic, sometimes totally unhinged females, this is a very good, intriguing book with a plot that's a bit different (and thus welcome, especially given all the recent books featuring neurotic females). Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for providing me with an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

Are You Sleeping? by Kathleen Barber (Gallery Books, August 2017); 336 pp.