Book Review: Nine

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Nine     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Jan Burke
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Simon & Schuster, Nov 2002, $24.00, 366 pp.

Malibu, California is the location of Sedgewick a school where the rich send their offspring who get in trouble with the law. These juvenile offenders bought their way out of jail time and while Everett Corey was there he put together a gang that stayed close friends once they left the school. These wealthy adults are, with the help of friends in very high places, kidnapping and killing the members on FBI’s ten most wanted list.

They are not doing this for altruistic reasons but for the adrenaline high and to thumb their noses at authority. The group is also going after people they have a grudge against including LAPD homicide detective Alex Hartwick, Meg Taggert and former Sedgewick student Kit Logan. To lure this enemy threesome into a trap, they use the people that the trio care most for as hostages.

NINE is a dark and gritty urban noir crime thriller that is nothing at all like the author’s Irene Kelly series. For the most part readers don’t care about the villains or heroes one way or another. The good guys and gals are remote and distant while the villains are simply nasty so it is difficult to relate to anyone, yet the story line is very exciting and is full of action packed high drama and adventure.

Harriet Klausner

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