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This is the third in the acclaimed and splendid series featuring Detective Mars (Marshall) Bahr. He has a ³case ripped from the headlines,² as some have put it, but a case with some twists that make the story unparalleled. The case involves a stellar black athlete, T-Jack (Tayron Jackman), who is the star point guard for the Minneapolis Timberwolves basketball team. He is a man who cares only for himself, who plays to make himself look good, and who has humiliated and belittled his wife ever since they married. He is arrogant and insolent and believes himself immune from the law. Just after his wife Terriıs parents have signed an agreement paying T-Jack an immense amount of money if he will divorce her, they find their daughter dead. The catch is that T-Jack could not have killed his wife. The conference to establish the settlement was held in downtown Minneapolis while Terri is miles away at their exclusive home in Lake of the Isles. Just before the contract was signed she spoke to her parents and her husband by conference telephone. Her parents left immediately and went to her home, as specified by the agreement that she had to be out of the house, and found her body. Mars Bahr, Nettie, and Danny Borg catch the case, their last before Mars and Nettie leave for new positions in the state government, working cold cases. They figure T-Jack paid to have her killed, but they must find the killer and they must be able to link him with T-Jack. That is the conundrum that faces them. The obstacle in the way of success in the new Chief of Police who resents Mars and doesnıt mind making life difficult for him. It seems as though he almost wants Mars to fail. In Marsı personal life there are problems as well. He and his wife are divorced and the person he loves most is his son Chris. He spends as much time as he can with him, but his wife is dating another man and that seems to be causing problems for Chris. Mars has to somehow sort that out while pursuing the clues in the homicide investigation. This is an intriguing story of big-time athletics and obsession, control and hatred parading as love. The power and force possessed by a superior athlete, even one nearly universally hated as a person, are frightening. T-Jack laughs at the police and dares them to find anything to implicate him in the murder. It tells us something about the role professional athletics has come to play in the United States. It is a role far beyond its significance or consequence. As we well know other athletes have killed and escaped punishment. The book is well-written and absorbing. It is hard to put down and the prose never gets in the way of the story which is bound to appeal to the reader on many levels. The sense of place is excellent. Minneapolis is a city dominated by weather and we get the full force of that as August makes way for September. Mars takes us to many different parts of the city and what we see is not only a sophisticated city but one with a dark side and an subterranean level of vice and corruption. This is in contrast to the areas of great wealth and might which surround the city. And yet, above all, it is the characters that attract us. We care what happens to Mars and Chris and, to a lesser extent, the other detectives and minor characters. T-Jack is pretty much of a stereotype but very recognizable. But we are drawn into the story by both the detective work and the personal lives of these people. The contortions and shifts of the plot keep us alert and interested. Do not make the mistake of thinking you know where Erickson is going to take us. Wherever it is, however, we are certain it is going to be an enjoyable journey.
Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, January 2003
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