Book Review: Figure of Eight

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Figure of Eight     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Patrick Lynch
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Noir
Dutton, Feb 2000, $24.95, 307 pp.

The stars all want private investigator Pete Golding to provide them with protection ever since he killed a stalker about to slash his client, a rising starlet. Pete’s boss is not as confident as the Hollywood crowd is about his out of control media star. Lenny Mayot hires the firm to guard his client, former Olympic skating superstar Ellen Cusak, from a dangerous but clever stalker The Ice Man who seems to intimately know Cusak. Lenny demands Pete, who gets the assignment.

Pete has always been a fan of Ellen, but was not prepared for his attraction to her. Meanwhile, the Ice Man sends a video to Ellen and the media that stars a child who looks almost identical to the ice skater. Everyone quickly believes the worst, namely that the frigid Ellen abandoned her child. This costs Ellen her budding Hollywood career and some ice-skating jobs. Though Ellen fires Pete, he continues to protect her by seeking to put an end to her stalker.

FIGURE OF EIGHT is a by the book LA noir novel that has been done so many times, no one would claim owning the T-shirt. However, in the capable hands of Patrick Lynch, the story line keeps the reader’s attention from start to finish. Pete is a near lunatic, who, if he was not a former cop security guru, would have been an obsessive stalker. Ellen is fabulous prima donna and her agent would out sleaze Nixon. The secondary characters make Southern California shine in it smoggiest of days. Though not anything unique or fresh, FIGURE OF EIGHT is a gold medal tale.

Harriet Klausner

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