Without Warning

January 20, 2014
At the start of this riveting standalone from Edgar-finalist Rosenfelt (Airtight), a hurricane destroys a Wilton, Maine, dam. When newspaper publisher Katie Sanford and her staff unearth the time capsule they buried nearly five years earlier to check for water damage, they discover skeletal remains and a set of predictions about future crimes, including the murder of the wife of police chief Jake Robbins. Months after the capsule’s burial, Katie’s husband allegedly killed Jake’s wife, with whom he’d had an affair. Other predictions correlate to an unsolved arson case and a string of murders. When Jake realizes he’s the common denominator among the crimes, he races to piece together the cryptic clues, identify potential victims, and delve into his own past to discover who wants to frame him and why. His feelings for Katie—the high school sweetheart with whom he’s starting to rekindle romance, but who represents the potentially antagonistic press—add complexity and nuance. Only some minor chronological discrepancies mar this suspenseful page-turner. Agent: Robin Rue, Writers House.

March 1, 2014
A methodical serial killer is on the loose in a small Maine town, and it's up to the police chief to resolve the case before more people die in Rosenfelt's latest police thriller. Jake Robbins is a war hero, but it's a role he neither likes nor covets. While in Afghanistan, he was involved in an incident that won him the Navy Cross, but though he saved lives that day, others were lost, and it's something he has a hard time reconciling. When he returned to Wilton, where he grew up, he worked his way up to chief of police, but life there has its own price: His wife, Jenny, was murdered by Roger, the publisher of the local paper, with whom she was having an affair. Roger was murdered in prison, leaving his wife, Katie, to assume control of the paper. After Wilton suffers damage from a devastating hurricane, Katie decides to dig up the town's time capsule, something that's buried every 50 years, to make sure it's not damaged; when workers open the hole, they find the skeletonized body of a man who apparently died about the same time the capsule ceremony took place. Even more disturbing is the fact that the capsule, which in addition to artifacts holds predictions written by local dignitaries, now contains an extra box of predictions--each of which addresses a murder. Some of those murders--like Jenny's--have already taken place, but others have not, and Jake must resolve the mystery before more people are killed. Rosenfelt's staccato writing style is clean if a bit abrupt. While the action moves along at a rapid pace, he fails to flesh out the characters, making the ensuing romance between Jake and Katie seem both forced and predictable. A romance camouflaged as a thriller but a short, smooth read most will enjoy.

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March 1, 2014
Descriptions of Rosenfelt's latest stand-alone: Spooky. Creepy. Edgy. Chilling. Shuddery. What more could anyone want? The author of the Andy Carpenter series offers an offbeat premise. A snoozy Maine town fills a time capsule with predictions and instructions to open it in 50 years. After only five years, though, the capsule is broken by a flood, and folks get a premature look at the predictions. They're a shock. Some forecast vile things that have happened; others predict they're going to happen. Then they start happening, ahead of schedule, and they all obliquely involve police chief Jake Robbins. The novel steps into Michael Connelly ground as Robbins learns that the savage murders he's investigating are about him. The cop and the reader struggle together to figure out why. So effective is this approach that it's almost disappointing when the air of mystery evaporates as the plot becomes clear. The novel is a tad too long, and Rosenfelt's most engaging qualitya sense of humor in the face of growing menacesometimes feels a bit inappropriate. Still, this is highly recommended for readers craving that elusive something different. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)