Scan barcode
A review by ericwelch
Eleven Days by Donald Harstad
4.0
This is a spell-binding police procedural, Harstad's first novel. According to the cover, it was based on real events, and Harstad spent twenty-six years as a deputy sheriff in Iowa where the story takes place. (Amanda White, who knows the area, tells me the characters and scenes are very realistic.)
The story takes place during the eleven-day investigation of the particularly gruesome murders of four people at a farm in rural Iowa. Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman arrives on the scene after a 911 call to discover several people dead in what appears to be some kind of ritual Satanic cult murder. Carl is a good cop with good instincts, but the department doesn't have the resources to handle the investigation by itself, so the Iowa CID is called in along with an expert from New York.
Carl recounts the investigation with its spectacular denouement in such a droll and natural manner, you can't help but warm to him. He works nights and his wife teaches during the day, so the investigation, which begins to consume more and more of his time, causes some fraying at the edges of their relationship. "When I got home, Sue was a little angry," Houseman says about his wife. "I'd neglected to leave her a note about the meeting. Consequently, supper had turned out to be a problem. She'd taken care of it by making a taco-type soup, so it was still warm when I got there. She'd eaten."
The key to solving the murder hinges on what the local pastor knows. It was his involvement in a similar crime near Elyria, Ohio that brought the killer to the area. His identity will be a complete surprise. This one will be a hard act to follow. I have ordered more of Harstad's work.
The story takes place during the eleven-day investigation of the particularly gruesome murders of four people at a farm in rural Iowa. Deputy Sheriff Carl Houseman arrives on the scene after a 911 call to discover several people dead in what appears to be some kind of ritual Satanic cult murder. Carl is a good cop with good instincts, but the department doesn't have the resources to handle the investigation by itself, so the Iowa CID is called in along with an expert from New York.
Carl recounts the investigation with its spectacular denouement in such a droll and natural manner, you can't help but warm to him. He works nights and his wife teaches during the day, so the investigation, which begins to consume more and more of his time, causes some fraying at the edges of their relationship. "When I got home, Sue was a little angry," Houseman says about his wife. "I'd neglected to leave her a note about the meeting. Consequently, supper had turned out to be a problem. She'd taken care of it by making a taco-type soup, so it was still warm when I got there. She'd eaten."
The key to solving the murder hinges on what the local pastor knows. It was his involvement in a similar crime near Elyria, Ohio that brought the killer to the area. His identity will be a complete surprise. This one will be a hard act to follow. I have ordered more of Harstad's work.