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sandin954's review
2.0
Decent PI read. Had a bit too much going on though and one of the plot points was S&M which I really don‘t care to read about. Not sure if I will go on with this series since there are so many others that I want to read.
rosseroo's review
3.0
I'm a big reader of crime fiction, but I don't typically seek out older series to check out. However, I was told the Leo Haggerty series is set in my native Washington, D.C., so I thought I would track down this first of the six books. Published almost thirty years ago, it introduces P.I. Leo Haggerty and his involvement in a notorious (but fictional) missing persons case. Five years ago, twin girls were kidnapped and the intervening years have brought no respite for the parents. One night, they get a phone call from the kidnapper indicating they are still alive and the father disappears in pursuit. Haggerty is asked to find the father and get him to stop chasing wild leads.
The first third of the short book has Haggerty retracing the father's footsteps, and uncovering a clue, one that leads him to an S&M impresario, who caters to the control needs of the nation's capital. I guess this angle would have been pretty shocking when the book was published, but it reads somewhat quaintly in an era when you can pull up similar scenes in a matter of seconds from any computer. The latter two-thirds of the book take Haggerty to coastal North Carolina in pursuit of the father. There, he gets interrupts the gang-rape of a college student in a dive bar. This rather significant sublplot then kind of takes over the book to a large degree, and Haggerty has to juggle that affair and its ramifications with the business that took him there to begin with.
The stuff about the rape and the delicate friendship that develops between Haggerty and the victim is actually the best writing in the book. The author was a clinical psychologist, and is able to incorporate that knowledge very well into the story. Similarly, while the hunt for the kidnapper is rather humdrum, the scenes that get into his psychology -- including one super-creepy "confession" to a priest -- are very very good.
So while I didn't love the story, I did quite like Haggerty as a character. He's got a nice mix of snark and bite, without being too clever or too grim. Like most detectives in fiction, he's a cynic, but not overly world-weary, and thankfully, he doesn't have some trademark flaw, like being an alcoholic or whatever. I will definitely read at least the next two in the series (All the Old Bargains and A Tax in the Blood) to see if he remains engaging, and to see if the plotting improves.
Note: Almost none of the book takes place in Washington, D.C. Like the author, Haggerty lives in the suburbs of northern Virginia. As mentioned above, the bulk of the book takes place in North Carolina, and the part that takes place in D.C. almost entirely takes place in the suburbs of Potomac and Rockville.
The first third of the short book has Haggerty retracing the father's footsteps, and uncovering a clue, one that leads him to an S&M impresario, who caters to the control needs of the nation's capital. I guess this angle would have been pretty shocking when the book was published, but it reads somewhat quaintly in an era when you can pull up similar scenes in a matter of seconds from any computer. The latter two-thirds of the book take Haggerty to coastal North Carolina in pursuit of the father. There, he gets interrupts the gang-rape of a college student in a dive bar. This rather significant sublplot then kind of takes over the book to a large degree, and Haggerty has to juggle that affair and its ramifications with the business that took him there to begin with.
The stuff about the rape and the delicate friendship that develops between Haggerty and the victim is actually the best writing in the book. The author was a clinical psychologist, and is able to incorporate that knowledge very well into the story. Similarly, while the hunt for the kidnapper is rather humdrum, the scenes that get into his psychology -- including one super-creepy "confession" to a priest -- are very very good.
So while I didn't love the story, I did quite like Haggerty as a character. He's got a nice mix of snark and bite, without being too clever or too grim. Like most detectives in fiction, he's a cynic, but not overly world-weary, and thankfully, he doesn't have some trademark flaw, like being an alcoholic or whatever. I will definitely read at least the next two in the series (All the Old Bargains and A Tax in the Blood) to see if he remains engaging, and to see if the plotting improves.
Note: Almost none of the book takes place in Washington, D.C. Like the author, Haggerty lives in the suburbs of northern Virginia. As mentioned above, the bulk of the book takes place in North Carolina, and the part that takes place in D.C. almost entirely takes place in the suburbs of Potomac and Rockville.
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