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This should be a wonderful time in the life of Sante Fe police chief Kevin Kerney. His wife, Lieutenant Colonel Sara Brannon, is expecting their first child at any moment, his new home is going up in front of his eyes, and he is on vacation. Then prominent gay attorney Jack Potter is killed, dead rats start showing up on Kerney's doorstep, and his horse is gut-shot. So much for the vacation. The second human victim is a former clinical psychologist who used to do forensic pathology work for the courts before becoming an artist. It doesn't take long for the investigators to figure out that the killer has some connection with the judicial system; bets are that it wasn't a positive experience. But the killings, both of people and animals, seem very organized and methodical; this speaks against a revenge killer. Kerney tries to protect his wife, who understands his position but feels that she can take care of herself -- understandable, given her position in the Military Police Corps. Kerney also has to deal with a very badly-handled portion of the investigation; a mentally ill man winds up dead when his mentally ill girl-friend/wife (this is unclear) tells him the police want to speak to him about Jack Potter's death, and he flees into the woods with firearms, fires on the SWAT team sent after him, and is shot multiple times in the back. Naturally, portions of the community are not very happy about this. The pressure builds as another person is killed, while Kerney and his family are specifically named as future targets. There are more deaths, more destruction. The killer is very good, both at killing and at diversion. He sets up a logical candidate, complete with forensic and eye-witness evidence. While this shows good planning on the killer's part, this is also where (in terms of plotting) the element of coincidence rears an unlikely head. The faux killer turns out to have been murdering people all along, and burying them on his property way out in the country. Plus, Kerney and his team decide that the evidence pointing to this faux killer is just way too neat and tidy, too easily come by after the total lack of evidence from previous crime scenes. So they aren't buying this. The ending is just a little too 'deus ex machina' for me. The killer winds up dead because someone was in the right place at the right time, not because Kerney's team has used all their skills and resources to figure out who and/or where he is. All through EVERYONE DIES, the police routine has been a major part of what goes on. It determines where Kerney looks next, why his level of frustration shifts, what his people are doing. They are on the right track, but they don't know that until after we all know what happens. In spite of that, I enjoyed EVERYONE DIES. The suspense kept me reading, the details about police work were interesting, the situations were logical and believable. If McGarrity's other seven books are as well written and entertaining, then I've got a new author to look for. I'll put his name on my list of paperbacks to look for. If you like police procedurals, if Ed McBain is your kind of author, you might want to look for McGarrity's work, too.
Reviewed by P. J. Coldren, August 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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