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MURMURS OF INSANITY has two plot lines, one that carries the book and the other that seems to exist for not much more reason than to provide an opportunity for an exciting gun battle. The book opens during the trial of a drug lord in the latter case, a trial in which Moriah Dru is concerned with the well-being of a young teen witness. When the drug lord is acquitted and the teen goes missing, Dru and her lover/partner, police lieutenant Richard Drake, interrupt the main plot to find the young witness. In the process, there is a massive shootout. It's an exciting moment in the book, but the entire storyline related to the drug trafficking and missing teen seems gratuitous. After the gunfight, Dru returns to Athens and to the real plot of the book from the distraction of Atlanta's rougher streets.
In Athens, Dru is helping Lake's ex-wife's brother, Baxter, who is being investigated for having committed murder. Baxter is a rich bachelor who has a history of being interested in girls who are a bit young for him, and who has most recently been accused of stalking an Asian college student, Cho. When Cho's boyfriend disappeared after an argument with Baxter, the police began to consider Baxter as a person of interest in that disappearance. Cho and her boyfriend are both part of a Performance Art group and, as the story progresses, edgy art becomes a possible motive for murder. Dru believes it's just possible that disappearances and murders are all part of a huge multi-national Performance Art project designed to point out that while violence is commonplace and not very shocking in certain segments of society, when it takes place in wealthy and happy environments it is seen completely differently.
The conceptual art perspective at the heart of much of the book is an interesting twist, both providing intriguing background and motive, and also challenging the reader by making it unclear what is reality and what is art. This, combined with a bit of voyeurism as the reader enters the world of wealth in Athens and Augusta Georgia, makes up for a cluttered plot. The contrast between the rough Atlanta streets and the genteel Athens streets is striking, so perhaps the Performance Art piece was introduced as a means for Finger to make a political statement. Regardless of intent, Baxter's world ends up being fascinating and giving some further background about Lake, who emerged from that world to become a police lieutenant.
This is the fourth book in the Dru/Lake series. While it was more scattered than the previous book, THE DEVIL LAUGHED, it nonetheless entertained.
§ Sharon Mensing is the Head of School of Emerald Mountain School, an independent school in the mountains of Colorado, where she lives, reads, and enjoys the outdoors.
Reviewed by Sharon Mensing, July 2014
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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