Gerry Boyle

I'd forgotten how good a writer Gerry is. This is a pedal to the metal police tale set in Portland. Brandon's off the force due to a shooting that should have been by the book in terms of investigation, but he didn't have his body camera activated, raising questions about whether or not his shots were justified. Add in sketchy behavior by the dead boy's parents, escalating protests, and a pretty nasty TV reporter, not to mention someone taking shots at him. In addition, there's a diary that leads to a completely different case and you have a dandy mystery set in a Maine city.… (mehr)

I lived in New England for several years and enjoyed reading mystery and thriller titles situated in the region. Numerous authors have provided readers with exciting police procedurals, mysteries, and suspense titles that highlight the area’s diverse geography and characters to life. None does it better the Gerry Boyle and his Poverty, Maine, ace reporter of the human condition, Jack McMorrow. In Robbed Blind, McMorrow is a stringer for the New York Times developing a feature article on people in small towns in Maine who work the late night to early morning shift while a robber, called the Zombie, is holding up mom and pop stores at gun point. At 4:45 a.m. one morning he calls on a small 24-hour convenience store to talk to the clerk only to find she has just been robbed and assaulted. McMorrow develops a professional friendship with her which leads him to a press-friendly police officer, an odd religious Catholic traditionalist who collects artifacts from closed churches, and assorted other small town frightened natives who have concerns about the Zombie being able to evade the local police force. Additional illegal events rock the small town of Clarkston that McMorrow follows up on seeking justice for his new found friends while the police have given their full time to catching the Zombie.

A sub-plot takes place in McMorrow’s home town of Prosperity that involves his twelve year old daughter, her friend, and a group of government anarchists using the young girl’s mother’s rural and remote large property to train with weapons for a “war” against local, state, and federal officials. Jack finds out about this potentially violent militia but is warned to stay away or put himself and his family in danger. Jack, of course, cannot ignore the warning and the book ends with the reader wondering whether the source for the surprise assault on Jack can be tied to his story on the Zombie or his interest in stopping the anarchists from attacking government officials.

A book that ends with a cliffhanger that will not be resolved until the next book in the series is reminiscent of television rather than a book series. But I look forward to the next Jack McMorrow book and am rooting for a positive outcome as the author begins wrapping up the series. Robbing Blind is well worth reading and is a wonderful primer on how investigative journalists ply their trade.… (mehr)