The Dog Killer of Utica

February 10, 2014
Lentricchia’s fast-paced if somewhat mild follow-up to The Accidental Pallbearer finds retired Utica, N.Y., PI Eliot Conte living on an inheritance, with time to indulge his passion for opera and teach a college course in English literature. Things take a sinister turn after the disappearance of a Bosnian Muslim student of his attracts the attention of Homeland Security, and a dark secret from Conte’s past connects to seemingly random acts of violence, including murder. Terse, screenplaylike prose propels the action through Utica’s mean streets (e.g., “5:30, sipping a second double-shot espresso in the kitchen”; “It’s Monday, his and Catherine’s date night, their eat-out night, but Conte cannot imagine eating, in or out”). Despite the title, the book, thankfully, contains no wholesale canine slaughter or graphic details of same.

April 15, 2014
Dogs aren't the only victims of upstate New York's latest murderer, but they're certainly the most perplexing. For alcoholic college professor Eliot Conte (The Accidental Pallbearer, 2012), who finds Herman Melville even more perplexing than the cases he once worked as a private eye, this new mystery is as overwhelming as a great white whale. Even if someone has a grudge against Detective Robert Rintrona, the Troy cop who partnered with Detective Catherine Cruz before she moved into Conte's place in Utica, why, after wounding Bobby, would the shooter go on to kill his dog, Aida? Why would someone fatally shoot Utica police chief Antonio Robinson's Jack Russell terrier and not his wife, Millicent, who was walking the dog at the time? And what could this wave of attacks on the canine community possibly have to do with the disappearance of Mirko Ivanovic, Conte's star student, a Bosnian Muslim who's suddenly suspected of terrorism? Readers worried that the violence may remain low-stakes will find reassurance in the rising human body count, beginning with bigoted liquor store owner Freddy Barbone and continuing when Mirko's parents, placed under arrest by Homeland Security, apparently commit suicide in the cell they've obligingly been given to share. Lentricchia (Literature/Duke; The Book of Ruth, 2005, etc.) writes great scenes and sentences, and several of the characters--especially a tough-girl bodyguard, a right-wing radio ranter and Conte's precocious 13-year-old neighbor--are keepers. Just don't expect a rush of satisfaction when this scruffy, elegiac dance comes to an end.

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Starred review from April 1, 2014

Explosive behavior, loyalty, and a love of literature define Utica's Eliot Conte, a reforming alcoholic and part-time professor. A year after the murders of his two daughters, Eliot grapples with his newest challenges. Apparently, Homeland Security believes one of Eliot's students, Mirko Ivanovic, is a terrorism threat. At the same time, someone has just tried to kill his cop friend, Bobby Rintrona. Paranoia might be Eliot's middle name because he suspects Antonio Robinson, Utica's police chief, owing to an earlier incident. Then Mirko's parents are killed, and Eliot's fury is redirected. Bobby lives but his dog is killed, execution-style. Eliot's paranoia escalates as the body count, both human and canine, rises--and won't be quelled until he can confront the villain. VERDICT The pages sizzle with intensity in this gritty, operatic, and wholly engaging tale. No matter if readers are new to the characters (introduced in The Accidental Pallbearer), Lentricchia's crystal-clear prose spells it out. Reckless and passionate, his protagonist demands attention. I like partnering this densely woven mystery with crime thrillers by Ken Wishnia, Reed Farrel Coleman, and George Pelecanos.

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Starred review from April 1, 2014
Eliot Conte, the private investigator turned American lit professor introduced in The Accidental Pallbearer (2013), is shocked when one of his closest friends is gunned down, nearly killed, in his own home. Eliot's pretty sure he knows who's responsible, and he's also pretty sure he'll be the next guy in the assailant's crosshairs. Most mystery protagonists have some personal baggage, but Conte has significantly more than most: he's a recovering alcoholic; he has serious issues with rage; he's carrying a load of guilt over the death of his children (murdered, he thinks but can't prove, either by his ex-wife or her husband); and he's done some dark deeds, including one thing in particular that, Eliot believes, is coming back to haunt him now. The author has a stripped-down, almost minimalist writing style: narrative passages are lean and tight, and dialogue is frequently uninterrupted by narration of any kind. The story, which is told in the present tense for maximum suspense, is dark and tragic, and it's nearly impossible to turn away from it. A terrific crime novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)