Review: "Turnabout" by Jeremiah Healy

Turnabout
by Jeremiah Healy
Leisure Books, 2005

 

Turnabout—which was originally published by Five Star in 2001—is an appealing, slow-paced, and surprising crime novel by the author of the John Francis Cuddy mystery series. Matthew Langway, a former FBI agent turned Boston private detective, is in a bind. His partner has been siphoning money out of their partnership and, worse, he has been stealing from their clients. So, with a desperate need for cash, Langway reluctantly agrees to investigate the kidnapping of the mentally-handicapped Kenny, the great-grandson of a wealthy former U.S. Army general, Alexander Van Horne. Langway’s reluctance comes from Van Horne’s insistent that the authorities be kept out, but the promise of a $10,000 payday convinces Langway to take the job anyway.
     The estate’s security is top-notch—cameras, guards, alarms, fences, and gates—which leads Langway to think the kidnappers had inside help. A notion supported by the rapacious Van Horne family; every one of them residents of the estate where Kenny lived and with something to gain from the boy’s death.
     Turnabout is fascinating and literate, but its unhurried pacing and dark nature may put some readers off. The thematic focus on the past, particularly old secrets, is reminiscent, while not quite as satisfying, as Ross Macdonald’s Lew Archer books. A similarity that kept me turning the pages until the narrative picked up about a third of the way in. Along the way it becomes clear nothing in Langway’s world is simple and obvious. Everything is suspect. Then the climactic scene—with the surprise of a swinging axe—twists into a marvelous, almost breathtaking, surprise.
     Turnabout is set in the late-1980s and—keep in mind this is all speculation on my part—it was likely written about that same time. Healy (perhaps) was unable to find a publisher, or he simply put the manuscript away and went on to other projects. But then Five Star—known for publishing “trunk novels” by established mystery writers for the library market in the early-2000s—brought Turnabout out in 2001 and a few years later Leisure Books issued a mass market reprint. But no matter Turnabout’s history, I’m glad it had a public life because the characters, the story, and the complex ideas about morality and ethics, or the lack of any, keep dancing long after the final pages are done.

Click here for the paperback at Amazon.

Review: "The Poker Club" by Ed Gorman

 

The Poker Club
by Ed Gorman
Leisure Books, 2000

 

The Poker Club, by Ed Gorman, originally published as a limited and signed edition hardcover by Cemetery Dance in 1999, is an expansion of Gorman’s sleek novella, “Out There in the Darkness” published in 1995. It is the story of four poker buddies whose lives go sideways when a burglar interrupts their weekly game. The men’s fear and anger, heightened by a rash of burglaries and property crimes in their middle-class neighborhood, boils over and the burglar finishes the night dead. Instead of calling the police, the four friends dump the burglar’s body in a river and try to move on, but then the late-night calls start, and the men find themselves knocking on the doors of the criminal classes.
     The Poker Club is a suspense novel propelled by the amplifying effect of the primary characters’ fear-based decisions. These decisions—we’ll call the police after we’ve scared the burglar, no one will ever know he was here—isolate the men, in quick succession, from their families, their neighborhood, and ultimately, from each other. The plotting is straight-forward and without any real surprises, which is okay because the novel’s power is emotion. The men are pushed into decisions (and actions) most middle-class men never see. They face the prospect of losing their reputations, their professions—and with this, the loss of their lifestyles—their families, and, perhaps, their lives. It is more psychological and character-driven than action and it works well. 
     The Poker Club is dedicated, in part, to Richard Matheson and it is a good fit. The way suburban middle-class America is transformed from a comfortable and safe place to something less friendly, almost nefarious, is similar to Matheson’s brilliant novel, Stir of Echoes. The Poker Club was translated into a tolerable low-budget film directed by Tim McCann and starring Johnathon Schaech.

Click here for the Kindle edition and here for the paperback at Amazon.