Tell No Lies

June 3, 2013
In this thrill-packed stand-alone from Thriller Award–finalist Hurwitz (The Survivor), Daniel Brasher, a counselor working with ex-cons in San Francisco, receives an anonymous, semi-literate letter in his mailbox that reads: “admit what youv done. or you will bleed for it.” The letter is actually addressed to someone else, a man who, Brasher soon discovers, has just been brutally murdered. When he receives two more threat letters, each addressed to a new person, it becomes clear that the killer is sending a message. Brasher must examine the messy entanglements of his life to discover just why the killer is targeting him in this fashion. While at times a bit cloak and dagger—once Brasher looks in a standing mirror only to realize that “beyond the tilted bottom frame of the mirror” the killer’s boots are peaking out—the mystery lover will want to carry though until the somewhat strained end to learn the link between Brasher and the murderer. Agent: Lisa Erbach Vance, Aaron Priest Literary Agency.

July 1, 2013
A San Francisco silver spoon heir trying to do good becomes entangled in a serial murder case in Hurwitz's (The Survivor, 2012, etc.) latest thriller. Daniel Brasher, last heir to a family fortune that can be traced back to the Union Pacific's golden spike, left the private investment business to become a counselor for violent offenders. The only child of widowed Evelyn Brasher, a community mover and shaker more powerful and feared than appreciated and respected, Brasher strayed further by marrying Cristina, a Hispanic community organizer. Money, an Audi, a gentrified three-story in Pacific Heights mean the couple lives well while doing good, the only pothole on the road to happily-ever-after being Cristina's cancer. Then Brasher discovers an anonymous murder threat in his work mailbox. The threat, however, is directed at another person. Soon, other murder threats, and bodies, accumulate. Every corpse is left with "knife slits leaking blood below either eye." The Tearmaker's notes always demand that victims "admit what you've done." Hurwitz is brilliant with characterization. Evelyn and Cristina are spark-striking opposites. Leo Rizk, shadowy, silent hired bodyguard, has a dark history revealed in strobe flashes. Theresa Dooley, hard-charging young African-American inspector, leads the investigation. And Martin, A-Dre, Big Mac, Martin, Lil and Xochitl, the sextet that makes up Brasher's counsel group of violent offenders, are broken and brave but worthy suspects all. Hurwitz's writing is more lyrical than noir--one chapter delineates San Francisco perfectly--with occasional literary flashes--"watched the sunbeams' relentless creep along the floorboards, ushering in the threats of a new day)." Hurwitz is no slouch at plotting either, dragging Brasher from one murder scene to another, either consulting with Dooley or giving in to his own curiosity--or guilt. Every suspect seems legitimate, but then the narrative makes a hard U-turn and aims The Tearmaker at Brasher and his wife only to stumble beyond a satisfying conclusion and tack on the trite tying up of one minor narrative thread. Another winner from a top-tier thriller writer.

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July 1, 2013
Daniel Brasher, a San Francisco group counselor, finds an envelope addressed to someone else in his office mail, an envelope that contains what appears to be a death threat leveled at someone Daniel doesn't know, and even more disturbing, the threat appears to have already been carried out. Soon more envelopes appear, and before you can say this all sounds a little implausible, Daniel is knee-deep in a murderer's devilish plot, running a race against time to protect his family. You can always depend on Hurwitz to deliver the goods, but this time, uncharacteristically, the goods aren't quite as exciting as they usually are. Nothing wrong with the storyexcept, perhaps, that extra dollop of implausibilitybut it doesn't have the same hyperrealistic feel, the same level of suspense and drama, as such earlier Hurwitz jewels as The Survivor (2012) and They're Watching (2010). Compared to the author's recent output, the book feels a little too slick. Still recommendable to his fans, and to readers who like a good ordinary-man-in-extraordinary-circumstances thriller, but it's not prime Hurwitz.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)