Sunday, February 17, 2008
Dust to Dust
****½ Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag. Mystery.
I bought this book used from Half.com. I don't buy a lot of used books, but when I do--almost always for an out-of-print book, but occasionally for a book for a reading challenge that's just too expensive for something I'm taking a chance on anyway (Henryk Sienkiewicz's With Fire and Sword, for example, the current edition of which encompasses two volumes at $25 each). When you buy a book from Half.com, you can get additional books from the same seller at reduced shipping prices. So I take the opportunity to try out new-to-me authors. This is one of those, since I know several people who enjoy Hoag's work.
Gay internal affairs cop Andy Fallon is found hanged to death in his bedroom, facing a mirror on which is written "Sorry" (like on the cover). There's not much evidence, so the cops are writing it off as suicide, or perhaps a sex accident--since everybody knows those gays are into kinky stuff. Detectives Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska aren't so sure--there seems to be no motivation for suicide, and no indication that he was into "kinky stuff."
They're even more reluctant to let it go when Andy's father, retired cop Mike Fallon, a paraplegic since being shot in the line of duty 20 years earlier, is also found dead, also an apparent suicide, shot by his own gun in his bathroom.
Kovac and Liska uncover secrecy and plots dating back decades, and the suspects are at the highest levels of the police force.
I've since noticed that Hoag has a connected book prior to this one: Ashes to Ashes, but I didn't feel as if I'd missed anything. In fact, if the Amazon reviews are anything to go by (I realize that's a big if), I'm glad I hadn't read any of Hoag's books before, as a large portion of the negative reviewers seem rather annoyed that Dust to Dust wasn't a romance. Since I hadn't expected romance, I wasn't disappointed.
On the contrary--I enjoyed the mystery and suspense of this book very much. The twists were both surprising and believable, and the characters well-drawn and realistic. The story falls just short of making me want to go out and buy up all of Hoag's backlist, but only just. She's definitely on my I'd-like-to-try-again list.
Categories: Books, 4.5stars, Mystery
Labels: 4.5 stars, books, mystery
Comments:
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I have read a couple of Tami Hoag books a very long time ago. And her older books are the one I like more. You probably gonna hurt me, but I might be one of the reader who want to see more of Hoag's romance in her thriller/suspense books. I usually enjoy her older books. But it have been such long time since I read her.
*grin...moving to the right side..slowly...and than...RUN*
Great review!
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*grin...moving to the right side..slowly...and than...RUN*
Great review!
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