The Saint of Wolves and Butchers

January 29, 2018
This predictable thriller from Grecian (the Murder Squad series) focuses on the hunt for a Nazi concentration camp commander. In 1951, wanted war criminal Rudolph Bormann succeeds in making his way from South America to rural Kansas, where he begins a new life as Rudy Goodman. In the present, Travis Roan, the head of a family foundation devoted to bringing war criminals to justice, comes to Kansas from L.A. after a report that the German was recognized by Ruth Elder, a concentration camp survivor. When Travis arrives at Ruth’s home, the woman’s grown daughter tells him that her mother has recently died. Undeterred, Travis presses on, aided by his canine companion, Bear, a massive animal with the ability to understand Esperanto. Travis gets another unlikely ally in the person of Kansas Highway Patrol trooper Skottie Foster, a single mother who risks her job to help him. None of the characters lingers in the memory, and the early appearance of Skottie’s precocious daughter, who instantly bonds with Bear, presages a climax that veteran genre readers will find unsurprising. Author tour. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.

In this is a fast-paced story, elderly Nazis have settled in a rural Kansas county, where they continue to commit race-based atrocities. This seemingly implausible plot is made credible through the imaginative verisimilitude instilled by its author and through the assured, matter-of-fact tone of January LaVoy's narration. Listeners can only conclude the danger is real and cheer on the Nazi hunter who comes to Kansas with his dog, Bear, to see that justice prevails. When the mixed-race daughter of the lead investigator is kidnaped, we can hear the tension in LaVoy's voice. She also brings to life a number of secondary characters--some likable, some less so--delivering this action-packed story with clarity and conviction. D.L.G. � AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine