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A "foamer" is an obsessive train enthusiast, and in Henry Kisor's fifth Steve Martinez mystery, Steve tracks a foamer through northern Michigan and into Canada. A child's bones have been found in a hopper car that had been sitting in storage on an almost forgotten railroad siding hidden deep in the woods of Porcupine County, Michigan…in Sheriff Martinez's territory. When a search of other rail cars at the same location turns up several other children's bodies as well as the body of a recently murdered adult male, not only the Sheriff's office but also the FBI become involved. When the word goes out across the country to search inactive rail cars, even more bodies are found. While the FBI stubbornly focuses on only the children's deaths, Martinez believes there is something bigger at play.
Martinez and his girlfriend, Ginny Fitzgerald, decide to use some vacation time and her Prius to track the man they believe is responsible for all these deaths. They use modern GPS tracking equipment linked to cell phones and computers as they stay out of sight of "the beast" on his trip around Lake Superior, stopping at various rail yards. This section of the book reads almost like a travelogue. If I ever decide to do this tourist drive around the lake, I will bring the book along. It details the tourist stops all along the route – locations that the beast, and Steve and Ginny, do not take the time to visit. Instead, the beast follows an extremely strict timetable, giving some insight into both his personality and his relationship with trains.
Steve returns from the "vacation" satisfied that the man he was following is in fact the beast. However, his evidence is not sufficient to make an arrest nor to convince the FBI. Steve and his fellow officers decide to use a complicated ruse based on a WWII incident to flush out the beast's criminal nature. This section of the book provides historical detail as the original incident is described and Martinez's plot unfolds. The resolution to the murders, old and new, makes sense, although the cavalier manner in which Steve deals with the fallout seems unrealistic.
Characterization is not a strength of this book. Although Kisor gives us an intellectual understanding of why the beast is a killer, the reasoning doesn't translate into a real sense of knowing the character. The same rather shallow characterization is true of even main character Martinez. This works in the book, because it is so intricately plotted and because there are few characters to keep track of. However, the book would have been strengthened by stronger characterization. Also, I wish I had read the "About the Author" paragraph at the end of the book before reading the book itself. Kisor is deaf, and has been since he was three years old. Knowing this might have given me more perspective on the writing. The visual imagery in the book is much stronger than the auditory.
Ultimately, TRACKING THE BEAST is an engaging procedural with a large dose of travel, history, and train lore thrown in.
§ 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, November 2015
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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