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(More customer reviews)I've read all of Haddam's Gregor Demarkian books and have liked some better than others. Haddam always provides uniquely resonant characters, dialogue that you can hear -- even if it is so wordy and busy sometimes that it gives the characters, themselves, a headache, never mind the reader. Then, too, Haddam has the Cavanaugh Street neighborhood in Philadelphia in which Demarkian and his neighbors all live as an extended family of sorts; many reviewers have noted that the neighborhood has, itself, become a character in the books, but a multi-faceted and complex one, not the boorish and slapstick sort a few towns and their inhabitants have become in some of the rather sillier amateur detective series.
Sleuth Gregor Demarkian is fictionally the 'inventor' of the FBI's profiling section and who, now retired, is called in by local police forces that are making less progress in murder cases than is desirable. Demarkian is an extremely appealing protagonist because he thinks logically, works with authorities appropriately, handles crime scenes and evidence correctly, is polite and is also older and not an action hero; in short, he's the kind of guy you'd really LIKE to believe exists. He works the way you'd like to think someone works, within a system that needs a strong shepherding hand to bring confusion into order. You've seen the shirts "WWRD (what would Reacher do?)" I think I should have a notebook with a "WWDD" on it.
In this book, Demarkian travels to Mattatuck, New York, where the body of a man has been discovered hanging from a billboard, a billboard that happens to exist to publicize the disappearance of this same man from this same town twelve years ago. While the first question is whether the man killed himself, the bigger one is where he has been for the last dozen years. Inevitably, the reason for his disappearance as well as the drama of his showing up again -- dead -- initiate several series of events in this moderately-sized town where everyone seems to know everyone else, along with all their business.
Along the way, we see how economic stimulus funds were used to buy crime scene technology that no one knows how to use, while police radios don't work in half the county; we explore the unique economics of the adjunct instructor at the local community college, a 60-year-old PhD who receives less than $2000 to teach 14 weeks of a class but who, since adjuncts are prohibited by law in New York from teaching more than two courses a semester, is living in her car; Hard-working Albanian immigrants who have some interesting observations about the American welfare system and its inhabitants; a consideration of the importance of 'cultural context' in education as a diligent young scholar compares her own effort to that of the 'smart' kids and realizes that they just grew up knowing some things that she's had to struggle to just get into the same room with; some pretty dysfunctional families; and an exploration of the sunset of the life of one of the oldest and most beloved of the Cavanaugh street residents. Honestly, the mystery is pretty good, but it's the "getting there" -- all the meat in this book -- that makes it such a superlative read. This would make a FABULOUS book club book!!!!
Disclaimer -- One of the hardest things for me about reviewing Jane Haddam's books is that her dialogue, even the internal dialogue of the characters, is so distinct that I always find myself talking -- and writing -- like that while I'm reading the book. So if this sounds like Haddam at all, please don't think I was trying to be clever -- it just happens.
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