March 11, 2013
At the start of Black’s middling fifth mystery featuring forensic specialist Theresa MacLean (after 2011’s Defensive Wounds), MacLean joins her homicide detective cousin, Frank Patrick, at a downtown Cleveland, Ohio, construction site where a cement worker has fallen from the top of what will be a high-rise prison. Between two dumpsters near the body, MacLean finds a scared little girl covered in blood. The girl, called Ghost, turns out to be the 11-year-old daughter of the unmarried victim, identified as 29-year-old Samantha Zebrowski. The girl says that “a shadow” pushed her mother off the unfinished building. The tension rises as MacLean and Patrick follow false trails while the killer stalks Ghost, the sole witness to the crime. The bond that MacLean forms with Ghost lends human interest and few will guess the killer’s identity before the final desperate confrontation, but stock characters and too many coincidences make this a lesser entry in the series. Agent: Vicky Bijur, Vicky Bijur Literary Agency.
Starred review from April 1, 2013
Forensic detective Theresa MacLean (Trail of Blood, 2010, etc.) takes the risk of getting too close to a murder victim's daughter. A construction site is a dangerous place for anyone, much less a woman who's had a little much to drink. So at first blush, it looks as if Samantha Zebrowski just fell from the 23rd floor of what's slated to become Cuyahoga County's new jail. But Samantha has been finishing concrete since she was 14. How could such an experienced worker ignore OSHA regulations and stray past the 10-foot safety zone? Theresa's leading theory is suicide, not an unlikely scenario for a single mom living with a wheelchair-bound mother and an 11-year-old. But Samantha's daughter Anna, known as Ghost, claims to have followed her mother on her barhopping tour that night and saw someone push her over the edge. True to her name, Ghost slips out of her Nana's house the next day and shows up at the medical examiner's office wanting to help Theresa find the "Shadow Man" who was with Samantha the night of her death. Theresa dries Ghost's tears and promises her that she and her cousin, homicide detective Frank Patrick, will find Samantha's killer. The next day, while lunching with prosecutor Ian Bauer, she sees the little girl showing her mother's picture to the bartender at Tavern on the Green. Fearful that the Shadow Man will try to eliminate Ghost before she can identify him, Theresa redoubles her efforts to bring Samantha's killer to swift justice. Black handles multiple plots like a pro, building a story with almost as many layers as the new Cleveland jail.
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March 15, 2013
Cleveland forensic cop Theresa MacLean is called to investigate the brutal death of a young woman, who either jumped, fell, or was pushed from 20 stories up in an unfinished building in Cleveland's slowly regenerating downtown. Even though she's not normally squeamish, Theresa finds the sight of the woman's decimated body gut-wrenching. At first, the death appears to be a suicide, but the more Theresa and her partner investigate, the more convinced they are that it's murder. The dead woman had plenty to live for, including her 11-year-old daughter, Ghost. Theresa soon discovers that Ghost witnessed her mother's horrifying death and might be able to identify the killer, so now Theresa not only has to find the killer, she also must make sure that the killer doesn't come after Ghost. As the pressure to solve the case and keep Ghost safe mounts, Theresa senses the killer is close, but she is completely unprepared for his silent and deadly assault when it comes. An intense plot, knuckle-biting suspense, a likable heroine, and a shock ending make for a thoroughly satisfying read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)