Book Review: Memorial Day

Reviewed By: Cheryl - RAM

Memorial Day     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Harry Shannon
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Amateur Sleuth

Mick Callahan is back where he started. He went far after he left his small Nevada hometown, becoming a psychologist who used his talents to produce exposes on his own television program. Alcohol and failure in his private counselling work send him back to his beginning, to a short contract at a small radio station in his home town. There, most reluctantly, Mick starts using his old skills as an investigator and counsellor again.

This book is a fast-paced mystery story with most of the action squeezed into the Memorial Day weekend. Mick, the flawed protagonist, is a tough but damaged soul, in the tradition of so many other fictional detectives. The plot is suitably complex and the book is well-written. Nevertheless, the story did not grip me enough to receive a higher rating than 3. I found the posturing before the fights and the detailed descriptions of the fights themselves tedious. I thought those passages slowed down the story. That reaction may, however, be largely a matter of personal taste. Another reader may enjoy those passages. I also found the computer expert improbable, even though a slightly odd or otherwise uneducated person who can produce amazing data with only a few keystrokes is becoming almost a stock figure. Although the novel was not really to my taste, it would probably appeal to a reader who enjoys the more hard-boiled type of hero.

Cheryl - RAM

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