Review: Sacrifice

Sacrifice Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Clyde Phillips
Class/Genre: Mystery Police Procedural Thriller Noir
Series: Jane Candiotti / Kenny Marks # 3
2003, 320 pages, William Morrow

A writer for ‘Get Real’, ‘Suddenly Susan’ and a writer/creator/producer for ‘Parker Lewis Can’t Lose’, Clyde Phillips has a career that has lead him far afield of crime fiction until he wrote his first novel, ‘Fall from Grace’. His second novel, ‘Blindsided’, second in the series and garnered some good reviews and blurbs from famous authors. Both ‘Blindsided’ and his new book, ‘Sacrifice’, have the slick, produced feel of a television cop show. Action is Phillips forte.

Phillips's third crime novel featuring San Francisco tough cop Jane Candiotti, opens with the melodramatic, fog-shrouded murder of philanthropist Phillip Iverson. Newly promoted and newly married homicide Lieutenant Candiotti and her husband, homicide inspector Kenny Marks, are assigned to the case. Within an hour, a homeless man is found viscously stabbed to death on the docks. Stopping by on at the crimescene of a homeless man her way to inform Iverson’s wife of her widowhood, Jane finds an "S" scrawled in blood at the crime scene. Before the long night is over, Jane finds herself already under pressure from the higher ups of the city to solve Iverson’s murder and her own conscience to solve the homeless man’s. The diversity of attention given to both cases is not lost on her. She is further frustrated by having to break in an ambitious female subordinate who resents Jane assigning her to the case on the docks. When more homeless men are stabbed and the autopsy results come in, it soon becomes apparent that a serial killer is on the loose. The "S" murder death toll rises and the connection become less than tenuous when an anonymous letters turns up linking the two original cases. With Chief Walker McDonald roaring in one ear and Alice Iverson seething in the other, Candiotti is under the gun to wrap everything up with a nice bow. It’s an election year. Political bulldozing comes from the highest level and ends up squarely on her shoulders. The media are enlisted by the wife of the slain philanthropist and harangue the police department about bringing the serial killer to justice. Candiotti is under pressure and takes things into her own hands. She puts every ounce of energy into the case and ends up with her life in jeopardy.

The fact that Candiotti is vastly knowledgeable while the rest of the force struggles begins to grate after the eleventh chapter. When she informs ME Dr. Tony Tedseco that she has found something by examining a victim that he missed and then tells him “make sure this is measured, weighed, typed and DNA’d”, the boundary of protagonist to superhero cop is crossed. The pacing is mired down by Phillips attempts to build Candiotti’s character outside of the work venue. Descriptions of how her parents met and fell in love feels forced and unnecessary. However, the banter between husband and wife is enjoyable and humanizing. The premise of the book is solid and interesting, if at times, a bit cliché. There is no surprise in the Chief breathing down Candiotti’s neck, the stunningly beautiful shrew of a widow nor Candiotti’s ultimate danger. The inevitable speech from the antagonist explaining all disappoints in a book that could easily escape good and become great.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan

Book Review: Sacrifice