The required text for whole class was One Shot by Lee Child (2005). While I found the main character of this ninth installment of the Jack Reacher Series a bit too cheesy to handle, I can see how some readers find great appeal in the series. The other thriller I read for this genre week was The Night Gardener by George Pelecanos (2006). Below is my review of the book.
Twenty years after a string of unsolved teenage murders in Washington D.C., another body turns under similar circumstances: found in a community garden with a gunshot wound to the head and semen in the victim’s anus. What’s more is all of the victims’ first names are palindromes – spelled the same way forward as backward. New to the force when these ‘palindrome murders’ were first committed in 1985, now homicide detective Gus Ramone and former cop, turned chauffer Dan Holiday begin to work separately to solve the new murder, both with unique connections to the case. Holiday, in a drunken stupor, discovered the body while Ramone, upon arriving on-scene, learns that the victim is his son’s friend, Asa. The two have history, but can they work together to solve the case? While many categorize this book as a “thriller,” Pelecano’s knack for in-depth characterization and use of interwoven subplots makes it perhaps better described as an intense mystery. Regardless, this book will keep reader’s guessing until the very end. A clever and suspenseful book that touches upon the drug trade, race relations and D.C.’s broken education system, The Night Gardner is a contemporary page-turner that is well worth your time. | I give this book: |
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