The Harvest Man

March 9, 2015
In 2014’s The Devil’s Workshop, Jack the Ripper targeted Insp. Walter Day and his loved ones, having escaped the clutches of the Karstphanomen, a group of vigilantes who had captured and tortured the Ripper and whose ranks included Adrian March, a retired inspector who was once Day’s mentor. Now, in Grecian’s formulaic fourth late-Victorian crime novel, Day must contend with not only the Ripper but also the Harvest Man, a sadist who lurks in his victims’ attics before overpowering couples and slicing their faces to ribbons as part of his twisted search for his parents. The loyal Nevil Hammersmith, who has left the London police force after yet another close brush with death, assists Day. Hammersmith’s passion for bringing killers to book is one of the high points in an installment that suffers from underdeveloped characters and routine plotting. This isn’t close to the series’s best, 2013’s The Black Country. Agent: Seth Fishman, Gernert Company.