A Measure of Darkness

May 28, 2018
In bestseller Kellerman and son Jesse’s plodding sequel to 2017’s Crime Scene, Oakland, Calif., coroner’s deputy Clay Edison responds to a multiple shooting, apparently sparked by a dispute about noise from a large party. The victims include a six-year-old boy, who was struck by a stray bullet while sleeping in his bed, and a female pedestrian, seemingly accidentally dragged to her death by a car. Edison diligently reviews the evidence and interviews witnesses as he tries to reconstruct what led to the gunfire and the vehicular homicide, but the complexity of the case confuses more than it intrigues. The plot, unlike in the senior Kellerman’s best Alex Delaware books, never gathers much steam, and the characterizations, including Clay’s relationship with his troubled brother, fall short of the standard set in Edgar-finalist Jesse’s better work. Staccato prose doesn’t help (“A bicycle, I’d lose him. I walked faster. The phone shook”). Few readers will welcome a third outing from Clay. Agent: Barney Karpfinger, Karpfinger Agency.

Narrator Dennis Boutsikaris takes the listener through the ups and downs of this police procedural. The father-and-son author team give us the second in the series featuring Alameda County coroner's deputy Clay Edison. Called into investigate a number of deaths of young people resulting from a party in Oakland gone out of control. Boutsikaris is a great match for Clay, who comes across as appealing and genuinely wanting to do the right thing (except when his brother is around). The quick back-and-forth conversations without dialogue tags--along with the large cast of characters, the amount of detail, and the lack of real tension--make this a somewhat challenging listen. E.Q. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine