Red Line

June 8, 2015
After a leave of absence due to alcohol abuse, Sgt. Matt Sinclair, the hero of Thiem’s riveting first novel, returns to the homicide division of the Oakland, Calif., PD, where he takes charge of investigating the murder of 17-year-old Zachary Caldwell, whose body was found at a bus stop. A medallion was around the boy’s neck, and his wrists and ankles were tied together with flex cuffs. Matt recalls an earlier case involving two drugged and raped teenage girls deposited at the same bus stop and also bound with flex cuffs, blaming himself for their assault due to his inattention at the time, a result of his insobriety. Several other similar homicides occur, each with a medallion left at the scene. Theim, a former homicide detective who served 25 years with the Oakland PD, skillfully guides the realistic action to the unexpected ending. Readers will want to see more of his richly drawn main character. Agent: Paula Munier, Talcott Notch Literary Agency.

June 1, 2015
This hard-edged beauty makes reviewers think maybe they've been too nice to all those suffering cop/lawyer/PI types who swarm the genre. Oakland homicide detective Matt Sinclair shares the drinking problems and screwed-up marriages that are typical of his breed, but he's a very different sort of fellow. He treats much of cop work as a game of psychological manipulation, and it's fascinating to watch this cold-eyed shark at work. When he has to tell an anxious family about a murder, he first finds an excuse to search their house. Then he goes downstairs and says, in effect, By the way, your daughter's dead. In an interrogation room, he tosses a newspaper to a suspect and has another cop take it back to show the suspect he's not in control. Yes, there's a murder plot here and chases and gun battles and a gun-to-the-head standoff, and they're all well done. But none are as interesting as Sinclair's psy-war with the world. Why does he stare at the table while reciting Miranda rights? You'll have to read the book to find out.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)