Book Review: Home Body

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Home Body     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Gerry Boyle
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Jack McMorrow # 8
Berkley, June 2004, $23.95, 406 pp.

He was a hotshot reporter for the New York Times but now Jack McMorrow freelances for some New England papers and works as a copy editor for the Maine Clarion because his lover is pregnant and they need the medical benefits. Jack and Roxanne see some older kids beating up someone younger. Jack breaks it up and tries to get Rocky to talk to him but he runs away. Roxanne says Rocky seems troubled but warns Jack not to get involve because they will soon have their own baby to worry about.

When Jack goes home, he finds Rocky there and feeds him but Rocky disappears when the police show up. Jack tracks him down and from the little Rocky says he’s afraid to go home because of his step-father but misses his mother very much. The step-father tracks down Jack and their confrontation makes the reporter believe that he wants to find Rocky because the kid knows something that could get the old man in trouble. In the meantime, Jack protects Rocky, deals with the police who think he might be a child molester and the killer of a young teen who befriended the lad.

Gerry Boyle has written an exciting crime thriller with a protagonist who looks like a suspect because he wants to help a young person in trouble. It is a sad commentary on society that a Samaritan is looked upon with suspicion by the authorities. The family secret that Rocky discovers starts a domino affect that leads to kidnapping, suicide, and murder, with the hero smack in the middle of the situation. HOME BODY is well written, believable and has more twists and turns than a roller coaster.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner