About
Reviews
Search
Submit
Home

Mystery Books for Sale

[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]


  

CRUEL SEASON FOR DYING, A
by Harker Moore
Mysterious Press, July 2003
307 pages
$24.95
ISBN: 0892967749


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

As the book begins, Japanese American NYPD Detective Lieutenant James Sakura is presented with a very heinous crime in which the victim is killed, mutilated and posed. Naturally he and his squad go immediately to work, however, soon there is another and another and another homicide. Sakura calls in profiler and friend, Dr. Wilhelmina French, whom he had met while taking a course at Quantico. He also struggles to enlist the help of his former partner and ex-cop, Michael Darius. At first the police believe they have identified a target group, but soon see their theory fly out the window.

While working long hours to solve these murders the detective realizes his relationship with his Japanese wife, Hanae, a blind sculptress, is becoming strained; Sakura decides not to face those problems while trying to find the killer. His rejection of his wifešs attempts to both comfort him and discuss an important change in their lives only serves to increase the emotional distance between them. Gradually, of course, both sets of problems meet and intertwine.

Sakura is fascinating protagonist, born in Japan to Japanese parents, he loses his mother while young. He is left with his grandparents for several years while his father makes a new life in the United States. His father finally sends for him and, with little success, attempts to make him a part of his new family. James does decide to stay in the US, but successfully combines a Western life style with Japanese traditions and beliefs.

Sakurašs father had urged him to become a medical doctor, instead fate led him to police work. Crime disturbs Jamesšs sense of order and the need to restore order is one reason he became and stayed a cop.

This novel grabs the readeršs attention within the first five or ten pages and doesnšt let go until the final page. The book is tightly plotted and well written. Throughout the novel Harker uses flashbacks both to share the history and explain the motivation of four of the main characters: Sakura, Hanae, Michael Darius, and the killer. In the hands of some writers this can be disruptive, but this author has used it well. This mystery is not for the faint of heart; the descriptions of the crimes and crime scene are explicit.

Reviewed by Martha Hopkins, August 2003

This book has more than one review. Click here to show all.

[ Top ]


QUICK SEARCH:

 

Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]