The Burial Place

February 1, 2018

Katrina, the 19-year-old daughter of the Dallas mayor, drove off in a huff after a family quarrel. When her family can't reach her for several days, the mayor finally reports her missing and specifically asks for detectives Frank Pierce and Rob Soliz, maverick cops renowned for their quick results, to handle the case. Frank's instinct, which is usually correct, tells him Katrina was abducted and is still alive, even though no ransom note has been received. When Katrina's car is located, with a white bible found on the front seat, an item "Ms. Mayor" emphasizes does not belong to Katrina, Frank finds only one significant clue in the book; the word wormwood is highlighted once in yellow. Is this the key to Katrina's kidnapping? The two-week time line of this slow-paced debut police procedural has Frank and Rob spending more time eating and drinking than pursuing leads, and the action is limited to the novel's climax. Enmon's protagonists are interesting, but not particularly compelling; characters. VERDICT Incorporating an oft-used story line, this is typical fare written by a retired policeman that will only attract die-hard procedural fans.--Edward Goldberg, Syosset P.L., NY

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February 12, 2018
In Enmon’s uneven debut, Franklin Pierce and Roberto Soliz, Dallas PD partners, must find kidnapped Katrina Wallace, the mayor’s 19-year-old daughter. They have one important clue: a Bible left in Katrina’s car with the word Wormwood highlighted. A computer search that turns up a small-time criminal with Wormwood tattooed on his back provides a possible lead. Departmental pressure mounts as first the Texas Rangers and then the FBI join the case. Meanwhile, chapters from Katrina’s viewpoint reveal that she’s the captive of some sort of cult. Enmon tries too hard to make Rob and Frank stand out. Frank is rich, dates only high-end call girls, and is a cop because he likes the “mental exercise of investigations.” Rob, a stolid family man, is a good foil for Frank, but in the end they act more like vigilantes than police officers. Enmon, a veteran of the Houston PD and the Secret Service, would do better next time to portray police work in a more realistic fashion. Agent: David Haviland, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency.

February 15, 2018
Enmon, a veteran of the Houston PD and the Secret Service, debuts with a procedural about the kidnapping of a mayor's daughter--among others.Katrina Wallace isn't close to her parents, and they might not have called the Dallas police at all when she went missing if her father hadn't been looking to use the mayor's office as a launch pad for Congress and didn't want any distractions. Whatever their motives, the Wallaces make the right choice in doing an end run around Missing Persons and going to the Criminal Intelligence Unit. Sgt. Terry Andrews assigns his two best detectives, Franklin Pierce and Roberto Soliz, to the case, and they go at it hammer and tongs, noting the surprising appearance of a Bible among the vociferously atheist Katrina's personal effects and following the trail of "Wormwood," a single word highlighted in the book, to a group of men with identical tattoos who've gotten them at the behest of the prophet Brother John. Katrina, meanwhile, hasn't been twiddling her thumbs. Bundled into a vehicle and driven through the night, she ends up drugged and disoriented at a compound where all the men are called Brother, most of the women are called Sister, and those who aren't are raped and impregnated with the offspring Brother John and his followers are convinced will save the world. Katrina doesn't intend to take this kind of treatment lying down. The premise of religious zealots victimizing innocent women is more overheated than original, and Enmon doesn't develop his characters--cops, victims, or villains--enough to thicken the pot. But readers looking to kill a few hours wondering whether Frank and Rob will find Katrina before she's consigned to the burial place of the cult's earlier victims will find Enmon a foursquare conductor."Don't have much of a personality, if you ask me," a sheriff from another Texas town says of the criminal mastermind. Amen all around.

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