Monday, January 11, 2016

Shutter Man by Richard Montanari

Billy's a cold-blooded killer.  He also has a neurological condition that makes him not recognize faces.  His brother helps him find his victims and he carries pictures of them inside his jacket so he can check to see if they match.  It helps if the brother puts them in the clothes they were wearing in the picture...

Mulholland Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you).  It will be published February 9th.

Mr. Montanri writes complex tales with a lot of characters in them.  I enjoy reading them because I'm not sure what kind of story he is building and he always throws in complications on the cop's side, too.

The story is set on the wrong side of town, where the immigrants did what they could to make money.  They stole what they couldn't afford.  From that background, some turned out good and some turned out bad.  The problems began when a young girl was killed.  The boys accused a confused man of killing her.  He denied it and ran.  They chased him down and someone shot him.  The man that died belonged to a family of killers.  Without even knowing it, they have created a war.

When people start showing up dead, the cops get involved.  The cop that was part of that group is on the case.  The people have nothing in common that they can see, but they are shot, their faces are taken off and their birth certificates are stolen.  No one knows why.  As the cops put the case together, they have more victims.  Clues finally start tying together.  Once they know who the killer is, they have to find him.

This is a tense, suspenseful read with a twist at the end.  There are a lot of surprises and no end of odd characters.  This author keeps you reading.  

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