Measureless Night

October 5, 2015
An appealing hero carries Culver’s solid fourth mystery featuring Det. Sgt. Ash Rashid of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department (after 2014’s By Any Means). A devout Muslim, a good husband, and a doting father, Rashid is also a recovering alcoholic. On his 300th sober day, Rashid is shaken by the vicious murder of his AA sponsor. More killings follow, each more savage than the last. Each victim is someone who testified in a decade-old murder trial. The reader senses early on that these are revenge killings, with the blood and gore meant to send a message. Glimpses into the killer’s mind provide some context for that message. The well-structured plot offers few surprises—and the grisly descriptions of the bodies are definitely not for the squeamish. Still, everyone will cheer for the well-meaning Rashid, a guy too nice for the fallen world he has to face daily.