A Mourning in Autumn

June 28, 2004
In Moore's second gruesome outing for NYPD homicide detective James Sakura (after 2003's A Cruel Season for Dying
), a serial killer is preying on young Manhattan women. He suffocates them, surgically rearranges their internal organs to form a kind of mirror image, then dumps their bodies in the trash. But as Sakura, partner Michael Darius and forensic psychiatrist Wilhelmina French try to untangle the meaning of this ritualistic violence, the killer shifts gears, murdering Darius's ex-wife and kidnapping their twin toddlers. Readers looking for a motive for the killer's psychopathology may be disappointed, as throughout the novel he remains an unfathomable monster. Both detectives are interesting, especially Sakura with his Zen-like detachment and dogged determination. Another clever conceit is his Japanese wife Hanae—blind but gifted with a kind of New Age vision—but she functions too much as part of Sakura's backstory (she played a larger role in A Cruel Season for Dying
). The other characters are essentially stock—the acerbic coroner, the ambitious TV crime reporter, a few potential suspects. The pieces of the genre puzzle are all here, but the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Agent, Mel Berger at William Morris.

July 1, 2004
Taking charge of another serial murder investigation, NYPD's Lt. James Sakura (A Cruel Season for Dying) focuses on a perpetrator whose victims, snatched at raves or underground clubs, wind up as bizarre amateur-autopsy experiments. Three more cases increase pressure on Sakura, who must also handle the return of his blind wife from Japan, where she's been trying to recover from trauma involved in Sakura's first venture. Detailed police procedure alternates with glimpses of killer psychology-even childhood violence and cannibalism. A well-crafted second effort and essential for most collections. Moore lives in Louisiana.

Copyright 2004 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2004
Still recovering from the deeply personal tragedy inflicted by the serial killer in " Cruel Season for Dying " (2003), Lieutenant James Sakura of the NYPD faces another onslaught by a ritualistic murderer, this one preying on women. To catch New Jack (as in the Ripper), Sakura again enlists help from profiler Dr. Wilhelmina French and his long-suffering ex-partner Michael Darius. But the killer's bizarre fantastical world shifts and changes, keeping the investigators off balance until a mother is murdered and her twin boys kidnapped, bringing the investigation, once again, tragically close to home. Revelatory snippets bring the killer's past into the present, giving readers a visceral glimpse of a tortured mind with an ever-increasing appetite for sex-murder; Moore leaves little to the imagination as he spins out the story, which unfolds in a turbulent metropolis where unspeakable behavior finds a comfortable home. A few odd twists muddy the plot, but momentum never lags, and just when relief seems in sight, there's a final, quirky surprise. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)