Ed Weems announces at the deteriorating book club meeting that he wants to read a novel about someone who commits the perfect crime.
Oscar Roach wants to take it a step further and be the person to commit the first crime, and he wants his two book club cohorts to be part of the perfect crime.
This begins the story of Oscar Roach, a hospital-orderly and book-club-member- turned-murderer. As Roach gets a taste of the excitement for the hunt, the rush of adrenalin at the kill and the silent thrill of his fame, Roach does not want to limit himself to only being a murderer but aspires to become a serial killer.
Masterfully woven into the examination of Roach’s spiral into a serial killer, is the story narrated by Walt Williams, a Kansas City Police Officer. Williams’ story slowly intermingles with Roach’s until the stories collide and Williams and his partner Ox, are trying to discover the identity of the serial killer, nicknamed The Librarian, before he/she strikes again.
While the plot is not complex, the characters are well developed, rounded and sympathetic. The examination of Roach’s mind conveys the intensified joy he gets after each kill and the insidious fear that creeps out into the community as the killings way heavily in their hearts.
The writing style is simple, the descriptions refrain from being too detailed and graphic. The succinct narrative and the lightness of this murder mystery add to Roach’s nonchalance about his murders. The combination of these elements creates a real dichotomy in emotions and beneath this seeming transparency and simplicity, the sense of something sinister creeps up and slowly envelops the reader, making for a suspenseful read.
A well-executed murder mystery that has the elements of a dark comedy – light reading with dark, eerie overtones.
Reviewed by Maya Fleischmann for IndieReader