BONE THIEF starts out as your standard serial-killer thriller starring a grizzled policeman who is obviously destined for series characterdom. His unusual shtick is that he has a wife in a coma, conveniently installed in his home. Since she is probably not going to regain consciousness, she acts instead as the conscience of Lt. John Driscoll, as he trolls through the seedier side of New York City. If that isn’t enough emotional conflict, Driscoll also has to deal with Sgt. Margaret Aligante, who has considerable feelings for him, and the attraction is mutual.
This all takes place against the backdrop of a remarkably gripping police procedural novel, as New York’s finest attempt to track down a brutal serial killer who stuns his victims, ties them up, proceeds to dissect them bit by bit cutting off their extremities, then removes all the bones from the scene of the crime. Grisly. There’s always a possibility with a book like this that the gore factor will take over from the story and ruin the whole effect. Thankfully, while author Thomas O’Callaghan does spend a few pages lovingly detailing the carnage, the focus is more on the police work and how they’re going to catch the evil bastard.
And the procedural aspect is well done. While the bone thief and the wife in a coma are unrealistic elements, the description of day-to-day police work seems realistic, with leads followed appropriately, paperwork filed, managerial pressure felt, frustration expressed and more. If the story had been kept to Driscoll and Aligante, this could have been a winner. But around page 157, we start to get a loopy subplot about a 14-year-old computer whiz named Moira.
Oh, you know where this is going, don’t you? Yes, of course Moira is a genius at the keyboard and of course she’s going to fall afoul of our bone thief. I think in the year 2006, most cops wouldn’t be quite as dismissive of: a) a computer’s help in solving the crime, b) the computing abilities of many adolescents, and c) the dangerous possibilities of Internet chat. I also would be surprised if top detectives don’t know how to deal with an Internet search engine. But we witness all of this in a 40-page chunk in the middle of the book that just has you reeling.
So what’s the verdict? A mixed bag. There is some promise in Driscoll as a series character, and maybe even the comatose wife can continue as the inanimate foil for Driscoll’s emotions and thoughts. Characterization and atmosphere are solid enough, but there is a tendency to over-describe common elements (“yellow and black police tape” is used twice; don’t we already know the color?), and there’s the need for a bit of added realism outside of the police station. But the pace is furious and you’re actively rooting for the detectives. Recommended for the airplane or the beach. –Mark Rose
Buy it at Amazon.
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Check out “Speak of the Devil” by Richard Hawke- it’s a PI novel set in New York and it hits all the private eye marks- the crimes
murder & blackmail, the motives money, sex and cover-up,
the cops corrupt, the femmes fatale, the lowlifes colorful,
the dick mouthy and funny with an unfortunate habit of
getting hit over the head and not a mixed drink in sight.
And this Richard Hawke knows the Chandler-Hammet verities
and sticks with ‘em and good for him. It’s a pleasant
surprise.