Title: Unthinkable
Author: Clyde Phillips
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Read: July 11 - 13, 2013
Synopsis (Goodreads):
For homicide lieutenant Jane Candiotti, stress is part of the job. But now that she and her husband are expecting their first child, Jane is under strict instructions to take it easy. A tall order on an average day, yet never more so than when a mass shooting at a local restaurant claims six victims ? including her teenaged nephew. Jane's always been professional. But this time, it's personal. Before she can bring a baby into this world, Jane vows to hunt down the monster who didn't think twice about shooting an innocent kid. But every thread of evidence leads her deeper into a tangled web of deception, violence, and murder. Her only hope of navigating the twisting turns of this case is to enlist the help of a dangerous ex-con, one who could shed light on the connection between the death of her nephew and a decades-old murder case ? eventually leading her to the most shocking discovery of her career.
My thoughts:
Unthinkable is the fourth book in a series featuring married
San Francisco homicide detectives Jane Candiotti and Kenny Marks.
Jane and Kenny are excited about expecting their first child
when a tragedy shatters their peace. A mass shooting in a local fast-food
restaurant has claimed the life of Kenny’s nephew Bobby amongst five other
victims, with no obvious connections to one another. Only one staff member has
survived the massacre by locking herself in a freezer, but she cannot give any
clues as to the killer’s identity other than having heard his voice yell a
single command. With little information to go on, Jane begins looking into the
victims’ pasts in the hope of finding a motive for the killings, whilst Kenny
tries to comfort his sister and come to terms with their loss. Jane finds an
unexpected ally in the ex-con brother of one of the victims, who also has
connections to San Francisco’s underworld. Their investigations unearth a
startling link nobody had expected, and put Jane in the line of fire of a
ruthless killer who will stop at nothing to fulfil his mission.
Unthinkable is a solid police procedural with an unexpected
twist at the end which left me satisfied overall - even if not totally wowed -
by its storyline. There is enough action to keep the pace going, and the police
investigation unravels in a realistic and timely fashion. As the investigation
comes closer to unveiling the identity of the killer, the pace picks up a
notch, racing towards an unexpected finale.
The theme running through the novel, that of an unthinkable
crime and its effects on the police officers working the scene, intrigued me
and gave food for thought. Tragedies like the mass shooting explored in the
novel leave their marks on all first responders of the various emergency
services called to the scene (from police to paramedics to crime technicians)
and may result in more casualties other than the shooting’s actual victims.
This is an aspect we often ignore when hearing about tragedies on the news, and
one which is definitely worthy of being further explored to raise awareness of
the great job our emergency services do, often at great cost to their own
lives. Unthinkable touches on the after-effects of the shootings on many
levels, from the devastating effects on the victims’ families as well as the
personal demons some emergency personnel have to face afterwards. I was
surprised that Kenny was allowed to remain part of the investigation, when he
had such a deep personal connection to the case! The theme of the after-effects
of trauma and loss (and its resulting anger) played a large role in the story
until the very end of the novel and formed an integral part in the final
resolution of the plot.
Unthinkable is a well-constructed police procedural which should appeal to lovers of the genre.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a free preview copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Please note that the final version of this novel may differ from the version I have previewed.
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