Review: Good Morning, Killer

April Smith has transformed her self many times before her latest incarnation as a crime fiction writer. She was a writer for the Lou Grant series, Cagney & Lacey and Chicago Hope as well as a many made for TV movies. Her debut novel, North of Montana and the second in the series, Good Morning Killer, showcase her storehouse of knowledge and vast writing experience. North of Montana introduced FBI Special Agent Ana Gray as the ambitious, independent and impetuous member of the Kidnapping and Extortion division.

In Good Morning, Killer, Ana is assigned a case involving the possible kidnapping of a fifteen-year-old girl, Juliana Meyer -Murphy. She is the daughter of a couple with a rapidly disintegrating marriage and the sufferer of new kid syndrome at her new school. Her disappearance has her mother on the verge of a breakdown and her father a bellowing about incompetence. She is teamed with Santa Monica Police Det. Andrew Berringer, a smart local cop with whom Ana has begun a tentative relationship after working on a robbery case in the past. As they begin a search the for the lost teenager, Ana and Andrew butt heads. The has FBI decided to almost completely take over the case, edging Andrew out. And, evidence from a bank robbery the two worked on a year before emerges that Ana forgets to pass on to him. With their relationship falling apart, Andrew follows a lead given by the sole witness consisting of a homeless man with a tenuous connection to reality, as Ana seeks a green van and sets up a command center at the parents house. Similar kidnappings come up through VICAP and point to a serial rapist. Then, stumbling through the fog, a wounded and stunned Juliana appears.

At the hospital, Ana breaks a cardinal rule of law enforcement by befriending the girl. Juliana has been strangled, beaten and raped. And, she is now subject to a highly invasive examination. This worsens the brutal psychological impact and renders the girl mute about what has happened to here. The case has now become deeply personal and Ana is obsessed with catching the man responsible. Before he strikes again.

As the case builds up to a fever pitch, Ana and Andrews relationship comes to a violent culmination. Her eyes are brutally opened as she finds about the man she loves and she is forced to do something that will change both of their lives forever.

This novel was as fast paced and twisty as a roller coaster. It is a fine-tuned procedural and gives excellent insight into the updates on FBI profiling. Although the dialogue reads a bit too much like a TV script, the author has done a wonderful job building tension between characters. She is able to psychologically explore the world of the criminal, the victim and the investigators as she takes all of her characters to the edge.

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

Book Review: Good Morning, Killer