4 stars out of 5
Make no mistake; this book is about rape - more than
one, in fact. And even though it's told mostly through the "unbiased" eyes of an investigative reporter's wildly popular crime podcast, it's clear that it favors the "Me, Too" notion that accusers are to believed (or at the very least taken seriously). Honestly, I happen to agree; but if I am to be fair, I can't write a review without letting other potential readers know what's in store.
Those who are up for that also should know they'll be getting into a well-written, captivating (if not sometimes horrifying) story that begins as Rachel Krall is in small-town Neapolis, North Carolina, to cover a rape trial for the third season of her "Guilty or Not Guilty" podcast. Her producer, who usually accompanies her, can't make it this time, but the digital age keeps them bound together. The accuser is a teenage girl, and the young man is - or was, before all this happened - well on his way to becoming an Olympics hopeful (plus, unlike the young woman, he's from a prominent and wealthy family. No surprise, then, that the citizens of Neapolis are staunchly divided on who's lying and who's telling the truth.
Before the trial begins, Rachel finds a note on her car from someone named Hannah, who insists her sister Jennie was murdered in the town years ago and begs Rachel to investigate while she's in town. Rachel is intrigued, but Rachel must concentrate on the trial at hand. Besides, Hannah refuses to meet in person, making her story more of a stretch to believe. Still, there's something very convincing in what Hannah writes as she repeatedly finds ways to get messages to Rachel. So despite her producer's cautions to stay on track, she ventures out to see what she can learn.
Some chapters take place in the courtroom, some are "playbacks" of Rachel's latest podcast and others follow her as she attempts to dig up information on what really happened to Hannah's sister. As a whole, that makes for a story that held my interest from beginning to end. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for allowing me to read and review an advance copy.
The Night Swim by Megan Goldin (St. Martin's Press, August 2020); 348 pp.
5 stars out of 5
I'm not sure how I missed the first two books in this series since I'm such a big fan of the author, but somehow they slipped through the cracks. After reading this one, though, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again (and for the record, this one stands on its own quite well). Admittedly, part of the appeal is that I share the profession of Jack McEvoy, an ace investigative journalist (well, leave off the "investigative" part - my experience comes mostly at a strictly business newspaper).
Jack's work is far more exciting; he works for FairWarning, an Internet news site that specializes in exposing fraud. For the record, this is a real nonprofit news organization (Fairwarning.org) that purports to do exactly that, and I've bookmarked it for future reference. As this story begins, Jack learns of the murder of a woman with whom he had a one-night stand a year ago. Fighting the conflict of interest potential - and his status as a person of interest to the police - his editor assigns a follow-up story on cyberstalking to him. In no time at all, he finds three other women who died of the same gruesome COD as this woman - and what's more, all of them had used the same genetic testing service to find relatives.
He's forced to team up with an experienced co-worker - a deal he grudgingly accepts - and one of his first eye-openers is that there's virtually no government oversight of the DNA testing services. One of them, in fact, is selling customer data to many other companies; what those companies do with it, or sell it to, is a concern he must investigate further. And is it possible that test results can be altered, "fudged" or switched to change the trial outcomes of murderers and rapists?
For help, he turns to a former girlfriend and former FBI agent Rachel Walling who - thanks to Jack's actions years earlier - lost her FBI job, now runs her own PI shop and is less than enthusiastic about reconnecting. But she agrees, and they make progress until one of their main sources ends up dead. Finally, patterns emerge, revealing a serial killer known as The Shrike who apparently targets his victims based on specific DNA markers. But the more Jack and Rachel learn about The Shrike, the more The Shrike learns about them. Can they track him down before he derails their efforts - perhaps permanently? Read it and see!
Fair Warning by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown and Co., May 2020); 417 pp.
5 stars out of 5
Having spent roughly 16 years in journalism prompted me to say yes to this book - the third in a series featuring journalist Clare Carlson (now a TV news director). I'm glad I did; I thoroughly enjoyed every single page.
That's not to say I identified well with Clare; two of my years was as a beat reporter for a daily and 14 came managing editor of a regional business journal. Unlike Clare, neither experience got me a Pulitzer, sorry to say, but then again, neither was I ever in much danger. The closest I ever came was when I was interviewing a pair of township trustees who clearly didn't like each other, and when one started to take a whack at the other I had to jump out of the way. For sure I never got death threats, nor was my life ever in danger because of any story I wrote.
Almost from the first page of this book - the third in the series - Clare is on shaky ground. When a long-time friend and mentor is murdered, she isn't willing to believe, as do the police, that it was a mugging gone wrong. That's mostly because shortly before his death, he met with Clare to tell her he was looking into goings-on that related to New York's current hot-shot District Attorney Terri Hartwell.
Clare's TV boss isn't thrilled that she wants to delve into the situation to find out specifics about what her friend knew; but she's determined to get to the bottom of things, for the most part going off on her own. Meanwhile, Clare has a few personal "secrets" she'd rather not disclose - things that could derail her so-far stellar career. Her investigation takes her through a dark world of mob bosses, payoffs and yes, murder that go back to an unsolved murder many years ago in small-town Indiana (another plus for me, since I grew up not far from Indianapolis and Fort Wayne). In the end, everything comes to an exciting conclusion, most issues are resolved without, of course, Clare getting killed off (you really don't expect the heroine of a series to bite the dust, do you)?
All told (in first-person, by the way), I highly recommend this book. As always with a series, I'll also recommend starting with the first; but I have not, and I'm happy to say this one stands on its own just fine. Many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review it.
The Last Scoop by R.G. Belsky (Oceanview Publishing, May 2020); 369 pp.
4 stars out of 5
Count me as one who's never been a fan of the political scene; I'd sooner pull my fingernails out one by one than watch more than a few minutes of a debate (never more true than in this election year). Still, the process is interesting to me if only because of my background in journalism and psychology, so the description of this book was too intriguing to pass up when I was offered the opportunity to read it in exchange for an honest review.
And my honest opinion is this: While the plot doesn't rank at the top of my believability scale, it's a fast-paced, suspenseful and well-written story that I had trouble putting down and polished off in a day-and-a-half of spare time. It is, I should add, the second featuring network news host Erica Sparks (it follows The Newsmakers). But while there are a few references here to events in the other one - and it's probably a good idea to read it first - this book stands on its own quite well.
Erica, it seems, is in the throes of a rather conflicted life. She loves her job, but her significant other is off building a TV network in a faraway country. Erica's 11-year-old daughter Jenny has agreed to leave her father and come to live with her, but especially because Erica's work takes her away so often, the two are having a tough time really bonding. That issue is exacerbated when, faced with a ratings drop and the need to land a really big story, Erica turns her attention to the Presidential election. Mostly to help with Jenny, she hires Becky, a young aspiring journalist, as her personal assistant.
One of the two candidates, Mike Ortiz, has capitalized on his war hero status to become the favorite. He's got a gorgeous, wealthy and never far from his side wife, Celeste, who in turn has a beautiful, powerful close friend and adviser, Lily Lau, who's a real piece of work (in the authors' words, "her sangfroid has sangfroid").
As the final debate of the campaign approaches, Erica begins to notice that something may be amiss in the interaction between Ortiz, his wife and Ms. Lau. As she investigates, questions also arise about what really happened to the candidate during the nine months he claims to have spent in the Al Qaeda prison. But as Erica lines up people who might offer insights, her efforts are thwarted by a string of unexpected deaths and questions about who can be trusted. In between are hints of media manipulation, mind control, conspiracy theories and, of course, the threat of personal danger to Erica and those she loves.
It's a thoroughly captivating story, though as I mentioned before, more than a little far-fetched. Erica's powers of perception go far beyond those of mere humans (even those of a seasoned journalist), and others around her are far too quick to buy into her suppositions. Toward the end, the pace picks up to get to the finish but crosses the line of credibility (well heck, this is a work of fiction, after all). The bottom line is it's a fun, enjoyable way to spend a few hours, and I look forward to the next installment.
The Candidate by Lis Wiehl with Sebastian Stuart (Thomas Nelson, October 2016); 348 pp.
