Quick Bite: The story is good, the rampant misogyny… not so much.
What It’s About: Retired NYPD detective Ezekiel Cooper becomes involved in the worst case of his life – the murder of his daughter Bette. While trying to track down the killer, he ends up partnered with author Deni Green, a novelist who is trying her hand at true crime. And the story she is working is much bigger than just Bette – she believes that Bette was murdered by a serial killer who has been killing all over the country. Meanwhile, the sister of another victim of the Night Caller has decided that the best way to find the killer is to start emulating her dead sister as much as possible to draw him out.
A Word From The Nerd: Ok, duckies, I need to back up just a teensy bit before I hold forth on this one. I ended up reading it, because I found a loved-to-death paperback in a thrift store of the third book in the series (The Night Spider). Given how tattered that book was, I figured it must be something special, but my OCD won’t let me start a series in the middle, so here we are. In a kind of unpleasant place. Mr. Lutz spins a decent yarn, a good old-fashioned whodunit, with the world-weary cop, the nubile young damsel in distress, and the fun added complication of the pushy author. But he also has a real problem with his female characters. The victims of the killer, the sister who ends up in love with Coop (despite a massive age difference and nothing in common) are all perfect angels – beautiful, innocent good girls with no personality at all. However, Deni Green & Coop’s ex-wife (a militant vegetarian & animal rights activist) are both depicted as rigid, unpleasant, unattractive Feminazis who hate men, can’t dress, and have questionable hygiene. It was gross. I’ll be re-donating The Night Spider and passing on any other Lutz books that come my way.
The Nerd’s Rating: TWO HAPPY NEURONS (and a whole lot of mints, to get the taste of disappointment out of my mouth.)
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