Midnight Rambler

August 6, 2007
Swain, author of the gambling crime series starring Tony Valentine (Grift Sense
, etc.), avoids many of the clichés of the antisocial ex-cop novel in this chilling stand-alone. A specialist in finding missing children, former cop Jack Carpenter was fired from the force for assaulting a prisoner. Broke after a civil lawsuit and estranged from his wife and daughter, he's living in a seedy beachside apartment north of Miami, Fla., with his dog. Then Simon Skell (aka the “Midnight Rambler”), whom Carpenter helped convict for murdering prostitutes, is released from prison on a technicality. Determined to prove Skell guilty, Carpenter is frozen out by the cop on the case, but help comes from an FBI agent whose daughter vanished years earlier. The tension rises as the investigation widens far beyond Skell. Well-defined characters and intricately woven subplots, one involving a nail-biting scene at Disney World, make this a page-turner. 12-city author tour.

Starred review from September 15, 2007
Jack Carpenter is down and nearly out, a 40-year-old cop who left the Broward County (FL) Missing Persons Unit, his career and personal life in ruins, after he beat up Simon Skell, an accused serial killer known as the Midnight Rambler. When Skell is suddenly released from prison, Carpenter finds himself being framed as the Rambler. With some help from a former colleague and an FBI agent, plus lots of renegade activity, Carpenter obsessively pursues Skell, even as the public increasingly vilifies Carpenter as responsible for a new series of abductions of children and murders of young women. Solving the cases appears to exonerate Carpenter, but at least one villain remains at the end, perhaps to reappear. This is a breakout novel for Swain, well known for his Tony Valentine mysteries involving the world of gambling (e.g., "Mr. Lucky"). Swain knows his native Florida, he knows cops and missing-persons work, and he knows how to write. The plot is complex, the characters vividly drawn, and the action gripping. Highly recommended for popular fiction collections.Roland Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2007
Once the respected head of Missing Persons for the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department, Jack Carpenter finds his life in tatters. He resigned under pressure from the PD because of allegations that he used excessive force in capturing Simon Skell, the Midnight Rambler, a notorious serial killer. Jacks wife has left him, and hes sinking in debt.He lives above a seedy bar, picking up erratic paydays helping other Florida cops recover missing children. When new forensic evidence suggests that Skell is innocent, Jack is forced to return to the haunting case that cost eight young women their lives and wrecked his. Some of the plot devices seem strainedfor example, a radio shock jock who manipulates live interviews via his stations time delay to brand Jack as a monsterand Swain doesnt spend enough time fleshing out his large cast of characters. The author of the quirky Tony Valentine series, Swain may be more at home with lighter, quasi-comic crime novels, but here he tries for a high-octane thriller. Not bad but not quite hitting on all cylinders, either.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)