September 1, 2017
The inhabitants of a little North Carolina town are horrified by a series of weirdly literate murders.Detective Joe "Preach" Everson has only recently returned to Creekville. The good-looking, intelligent, bad-boy high school jock shocked everyone, including his parents, by becoming a preacher, then a prison chaplain, and finally a top Atlanta homicide detective. Although his professions exposed him to every human depravity, it was his search for a serial killer who targeted children that caused the breakdown that forced him to leave Atlanta. He did manage to get a job with the small police force in Creekville on the condition that he visit a psychologist, in this case his Aunt Janice. Preach and Officer Scott Kirby, an untested, publicity-seeking cop with big ambitions, land the case of Farley Grover Robertson, a local bookstore owner found with his head smashed and two crosses arranged near his body. A discussion with his employee, law student Ari Hale, reveals that Lee was most likely gay, that he had some distinctly odd friends, and that the crime scene is a re-creation of the murder in Crime and Punishment. Though Creekville is close to a major university filled with liberals, the locals include plenty of folks like the dangerous Big Mac Dobbins, who controls many criminal activities. Preach's high school buddy Wade Fee is involved with Dobbins, and Preach himself is soon threatened by Dobbins' gang. Preach turns to Ari, who's being stalked by an unknown. His new friend turns out to be a helpful sounding board for Preach when more people are murdered in settings that re-create famous murders in literature. The mayor, who may have major secrets to hide, wants Preach to solve the crimes; Dobbins, who keeps threatening him, wants him to walk away. He'll need to flesh out his dogged police work with philosophical discussions on the nature of good and evil to bring the case to an end. Green, best known for his Dominic Grey series (The Resurrector, 2017, etc.), creates a fascinating new protagonist who's both tough and sensitive. The literary puzzles add interest, and the denouement is a real shocker.
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September 11, 2017
The blunt force trauma murder of a Creekville, N.C., bookstore owner—in the manner of the pawnshop owner in Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment—propels this engrossing crime novel from Green (The Diabolist). Joe “Preach” Everson, a former Atlanta homicide detective who once did stints as a pastor and prison chaplain, investigates. Everson enlists the aid of Scott Kirby, a driven younger cop, and Ari Hale, an attractive bookstore employee and law student, to untangle the twisted motives of a sophisticated killer, who soon strikes again. Green does a good job creating nuanced, fully realized lead characters, but the supporting cast members—from a ruthless female mayor to menacing local thugs—are less well-drawn. He effectively evokes a sense of place, though the satirical depictions of the “People’s Republic of Creekville,” an eccentric community outside Chapel Hill, can be heavy-handed, and an ambitious plot leaves a few loose ends. Still, this is a satisfying page-turner for readers who appreciate literary references and existential questions with their corpses. Agent: Ayesha Pande, Ayesha Pande Literary.
November 1, 2017
Departing from his paranormal Dominic Grey series, Green introduces Detective Joe Preach Everson, a prison chaplain turned police officer. After an emotional breakdown while tracking a child killer in the Atlanta PD, Preach joins the force in his hometown of Creekville, North Carolina, where there hasn't been a murder in years. Until now. A local bookstore owner is the victim, and his corpse is staged to evoke the murder scene in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. Soon, there's another body and another literary allusion left at the scene. Preach was a wild teen who became a searching confessor, then took another leap to become a big-city cop. Pivoting again to join a small-town police force, Preach is a man who never seems quite at home in his own skin. But whoever he is meant to be, he has a cop's instinct for what doesn't feel right and a preacher's call to provide atonement. A dark, small-town procedural with an unusual and engaging premise.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)
Starred review from October 1, 2017
When Joe "Preach" Everson left Creekville, NC, after high school, he never thought he'd return and face the classmates he had disappointed. None of them know about the breakdowns that derailed his careers as a prison chaplain, and later as an Atlanta police detective. When a local bookseller is killed, the bohemian community's first murder in a decade, Preach is assigned the case as the force's only experienced homicide detective. His partner is young and eager, but Preach finds more help from bookstore employee and graduate student Ariana Hale. The duo recognize that the victim was murdered in the same manner as the pawnbroker in Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment. When a second murder resembles an Edgar Allen Poe story, Preach and Ari search for answers in literature. VERDICT Green's (The Diabolist) gripping police procedural introduces a conflicted detective who doubts himself at times. His fast-paced story, with its flawed protagonist, literary allusions, and unexpected turns, should attract Karin Slaughter's fans.--LH
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