By-the-book Detective Asante Royo can only clean up Fall River’s filth for so long without getting dirty. When he’s called to an apparent suicide at an apartment complex notorious for its prostitution and drug trade, he doesn’t shed a tear for the life wasted. Yet something about the scene haunts him, and when his investigation gets swept under the rug, he has a hard time living with the stain.
Jaden Sanders is an unstable loner who lives across the hall from the crime scene. When three men break into his apartment, Jaden is ready for a fight. He kills two of his attackers in self-defense then stalks and stabs the third in the back. Jaden is soon arrested for murder.
With no clear motives for the home invasion or Jaden’s violent response, Royo must uncover the true story before more people get hurt. His only leads are derived from the version of events extracted from a truly unbalanced mind. Is Jaden a victim being steamrolled by cold justice or a murderer capable of killing again?
The story opens in the aftermath of a possible suicide when Detective Royo notices a few things about the scene that seem suspicious. From there we plunge into a mystery/thriller when Jaden Sanders, the victim's boyfriend who lives across the hall becomes a victim of a home invasion. Jaden manages to kill his attackers but is later charged with murder.
Jaden was a fascinating character and I was more interested in his story line than I was in the detective work. He had suffered a breakdown after the death of his girlfriend and was still not very stable after his release from the psych hospital.
As a rule you probably know by now I do not generally read detective stories, but as a fan of several of this author's previous works I was more than happy to dive into this novel. I also confess to having watched more than a few trials on court tv so the courtroom aspects of this novel were kind of a guilty pleasure for me.
The mystery of what, if anything the break in had to do with the death of Jaden's girlfriend kept me guessing at whether Jaden was the bad guy or the target.
This is the fifth title I have read by this author and although my preference is for his horror stories I enjoyed this twisty thriller.
4 out of 5 stars
My thanks to Jason Parent for the finished paperback.
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