Wednesday, June 28, 2006
A Garden of Vipers
Carson Ryder and Harry Nautilus are homicide detectives in Mobile, Alabama and the protagonists in a great series by JackKerley.
I would classify these books as police procedurals with a hefty bit of creepy suspense mixed in. Carson and Harry are the only two members of the Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative Team, or PSIT. When the really creepy cases come along, these are the guys that get it.
Carson is particularly appropriate for this assignment. He and his brother grew up in an abusive household. Their mother was unable to protect them from their father. Carson grew up to be a cop. His brother, Jeremy, grew up to be a psychopathic killer and is incarcerated.
In the first couple of books, Carson managed to get some important insight from his brother that helped them figure out the case. However, this insight did not come without a price. The payment that Jeremy asks and the reluctance with which Carson complies is part of the creepy that I really like about these books. Carson loves his brother but knows the insanity could have been his fate as well.
For those who don't like torture or grisley death scenes, I have to say that Kerley handles it more like Alfred Hitchcock. He tells you just enough that you know what awful thing is going to happen, or did happen, and then you have to imagine the details.
I especially liked the second book, The Death Collectors, where the investigation led them to people who collect death memorabilia. It's hard to imagine people who get off collecting personal items that belonged to serial killers or their victims. People who would pay big money to get their hands on actual murder weapons or police photos so they could display them proudly in their home.
In A Garden of Vipers, the vipers are a wealthy family that may not be as altruistic as they want to appear. Keeping the family secrets behind closed doors has cost several lives including a young reporter, a psychiatrist, a retired teacher, and a convict. How Carson and Harry managed to tie all these cases together while Carson was dealing with a tattered love life kept me turning pages well into the night.
I would classify these books as police procedurals with a hefty bit of creepy suspense mixed in. Carson and Harry are the only two members of the Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative Team, or PSIT. When the really creepy cases come along, these are the guys that get it.
Carson is particularly appropriate for this assignment. He and his brother grew up in an abusive household. Their mother was unable to protect them from their father. Carson grew up to be a cop. His brother, Jeremy, grew up to be a psychopathic killer and is incarcerated.
In the first couple of books, Carson managed to get some important insight from his brother that helped them figure out the case. However, this insight did not come without a price. The payment that Jeremy asks and the reluctance with which Carson complies is part of the creepy that I really like about these books. Carson loves his brother but knows the insanity could have been his fate as well.
For those who don't like torture or grisley death scenes, I have to say that Kerley handles it more like Alfred Hitchcock. He tells you just enough that you know what awful thing is going to happen, or did happen, and then you have to imagine the details.
I especially liked the second book, The Death Collectors, where the investigation led them to people who collect death memorabilia. It's hard to imagine people who get off collecting personal items that belonged to serial killers or their victims. People who would pay big money to get their hands on actual murder weapons or police photos so they could display them proudly in their home.
In A Garden of Vipers, the vipers are a wealthy family that may not be as altruistic as they want to appear. Keeping the family secrets behind closed doors has cost several lives including a young reporter, a psychiatrist, a retired teacher, and a convict. How Carson and Harry managed to tie all these cases together while Carson was dealing with a tattered love life kept me turning pages well into the night.
# posted by Kim Reis @ 8:27 PM 
