Book Review: A Mourning in Autumn

Reviewed By: Woodstock - RAM

A Mourning in Autumn     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Harker Moore
Class/Genre:   Mystery

James Sakura is an NYPD cop - assigned to a series of murders in which the young female victims' bodies have been mutilated, with the incisions carefully stapled before the bodies are dumped in trash containers. Sakura, his wife and close circle of friends are also survivors of attacks which occurred before this book opens.

It's a challenge for an author in a series to deal with events from previous books. Too much rehashing and returning readers are bored. Not enough and new readers feel adrift in circumstances unfamiliar to them and not explained. I felt that this entry from Moore fell in the latter category - I often wished I knew more about the characters' motivations and how the previous crimes affected them.

The murders in this volume fall into a rather formulaic pattern - unresolved childhood terrors move someone to begin a string of murders. In the meantime he moves through society to all outward appearances a normal member of society.

Other authors have done this scenario better.

Woodstock - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Woodstock - RAM