I think there has to be a rule that lawyers, prosecutors especially, begin second careers as mystery novelists. They do know the criminal justice system. That doesn’t mean they know how to write a good story though. William Landay does know how to write a good story.
I read Landay’s first novel, Mission Flats a few years ago and was blown away. Most mysteries follow a pretty predictable storyline. I did not see the ending coming in that book.
The Strangler is Landay’s second novel, and it will be released for sale next Tuesday. It’s awesome as well. Go pre-order now, or call your local Barnes & Noble and have them put a copy on hold.
Normally when I review mysteries, I spend a fair amount of time railing against all the clichés most authors use. The rogue police officer. The mysterious tough guy back up (e.g., Hawk from Spenser or Ranger from Plum). That sort of thing. Landay’s The Strangler is remarkably free of these tropes. Not completely free. But not so burdened by them that they take away from the story.
The story concerns three Daley brothers: Joe Jr., Michael, and Rickey. Like a few other mysteries, the brothers end up on opposite sides of the tracks. Joe Jr. followed his father’s footsteps into the police force. Michael became a prosecutor, though his job is actually evicting people who’s property has been taken by the state under eminent domain. Rickey burgles, superbly.
It’s set in Boston starting on the day that John F. Kennedy is assassinated in 1962. The city papers are full of tales of the Boston Strangler. Now, when I first saw the cover, I groaned. Most other books that tell the author’s theory of some famous murder case are dull (Roderick Thorp’s River for instance). I’m happy to report that this book isn’t really about the Boston Strangler. Landay uses the case mostly to set the brothers on their paths. Despite the fact that Albert DeSalvo is in custody, Rickey’s girlfriend is murdered in a style that is remarkably similar to the Strangler modus operandi. Despite differences, the brothers find common ground enough to decide to take revenge together, if they ever find out who did it. Meanwhile Rickey’s in deep for burgling a mob-protected jeweler. Joe’s in deep with the same mobster for gambling debts, and he’s soon pressed into their service to repay the debt. Michael is generally aloof and non-participatory, but he soon decides his mother’s new boyfriend is responsible somehow for the murder of their father, Joe Sr. It’s Boston in the early 60s and most of the police force is on the take.
That’s the setup. One of Landay’s themes seems to be disturbing the otherwise tranquil surface of regular people and seeing what kind of murky things float up. The brothers make mistakes. But they aren’t mistakes of logic. They aren’t mistakes of following the evidence only to find out that one little piece changes everything. Everything is grey. Everything is confused. So what will the characters be willing to do to clear things up?
And yeah, Landay does build in a theory about who really was the Boston Strangler and it’s not DeSalvo. But it’s not central to the story so it doesn’t distract.
Title: The strangler
Author: William Landay
Imprint / publisher: Delacorte Press / Bantam Dell (Random House)
Publication Date: January 2007
Format: Advance reading copy
Length: 391 p.
ISBN-10: 0-385-33615-2
ISBN-13: 978-0-385-33615-4
Subject: De Salvo, Albert Henry, 1931- — Fiction
Subject: Private investigators — Fiction
Subject: Serial murderers — Fiction
Subject: Boston (Mass.) — Fiction
LC Classification PS3612.A5477 S77 2007
