|
|
Executive Times |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
2008 Book Reviews |
|||
|
|
Triple
Homicide by Charles J. Hynes |
|||
|
Rating: |
* |
|||
|
|
(Read only if your interest is
strong) |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Click
on title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
Annoying After
turning the last page of the debut novel by Brooklyn district attorney
Charles J. Hynes, Triple
Homicide, I decided that he should stick to his day job. Chances are that
in most chapters, a reader will find something annoying. Police professionals
will find the whole theme of police corruption to be a topic better left out
of fiction. Frequent readers may become annoyed by the preference for
description over dialogue. Hynes writes like a district attorney, not a
novelist. The stand alone chapters add to tedious exposition. One quirk is
that almost all of his descriptions of characters, no matter how brief,
specify height. What’s that about? If you’re a crime novel fan, this story
involves police corruption and three murders that Hynes eventually pulls
together. Here’s an excerpt, all of Chapter 4, “Steven
Holt, Brooklyn, 1964-1969” pp. 28-30: Steven Robert Holt was born on
April 24, 1964. At his baptism into the Roman Catholic faith he was given
the middle name Robert to honor his mother's brother, Robert Mulvey. Robert
Mulvey, then twenty-one, was a brand-new member of the New York City Police
Department, assigned to the 67th Police precinct in the Flatbush section of
Brooklyn. Mulvey's strong young body was neatly packed into a six-foot frame
that easily supported 180 pounds of carefully conditioned muscle. His sharp
facial features, in particular his pointed chin, his broad, large nose, his
jet black hair, and his dark searching eyes made him look like a descendant
of Native Americans rather than one whose ancestral roots were in County
Derry, Northern Ireland. Police Officer Robert Mulvey,
who wore shield number 1050, was so very proud to be a member of the
department that he dressed for the baptism in his crisp blue uniform and
specially shined his gleaming black shoes. He was particularly proud that
that his sister Mary had asked him to be Steven's godfather. During the
baptism ceremony, Steven's father, Harold, perpetually drunk and out of work,
could not contain himself from mocking this serious young police officer.
Harold became so loud and abusive that Father Dwyer ordered him to leave the
baptistry. Harold happily obliged and headed for the nearest gin mill. As Steven grew up, he became
more and more attached to his uncle. And Robert Mulvey soon became much more
than an uncle, especially after he kicked Steven's father out of the family's
apartment in 1968. Typically Harold's episodes
with alcohol made him increasingly violent. He began to direct his violence
against Steven's mother, first with humiliating sarcasm and then with an
occasional slap across her face. The physical assaults escalated, and he beat
her so severely early one morning that she had to be rushed to the hospital,
where she needed sutures to close a deep gash over her left eye. For Mary,
the worst part of this ordeal was that it was inflicted on her in front of
their son, Steven, who was at the time only four years old. Soon the frail
little boy began to have terrifying nightmares about these beatings, and
Mary decided that they would have to leave. Not long after she reached this
decision, her brother Robert dropped by unexpectedly. As he approached the
front door, he heard Mary's screams and his nephew Steven's convulsive sobs.
Mulvey burst through the door and found Mary lying on the floor of the
kitchen with Harold's foot drawn back about to kick her in the head. Mulvey
grabbed the drunk's raised foot and threw him backward into the kitchen
stove. Harold hit his head and lost consciousness. Steven, his little heart
beating so rapidly he thought it might explode, watched all this while
cowering under the kitchen table. When Harold came to, he was on the sidewalk
in front of the home he would no longer share with his family. Robert had
piled all of his clothing and two suitcases neatly next to where he had
thrown Harold. "If you ever go near my sister again, I will break every
bone in your body." Mulvey said this as he was holding Harold's hair,
pulling his head back so he was staring directly at him and so there could be
no mistake about the seriousness of his threat. Harold never saw his wife or
son again, although he did try to contact her and Steven a few years later
while he was serving time in a federal prison for tax fraud. Uncle
Robert Mulvey was not only a surrogate father to Steven, he was his idol and
best friend. During the summer of 1969, Mulvey taught the little boy how
to play baseball. He took him to the movies and to Mets games at Shea
Stadium. It was the Mets' magical summer, the year they won the World
Series. When Robert's sister chided him that someone nearly twenty-seven
years old should marry and settle down, Robert would say that between the job
he loved so much and the time he spent with his "best buddy"
Steven, he had little time for anything else. He managed to say this in front
of the boy, and the five-year-old beamed. Not
long after, a tragedy struck the City of New York that would have lasting
repercussions for Robert Mulvey, and for his little nephew Steven. If you were enamored by this
excerpt, chances are you’ll like all of Triple
Homicide. If you can’t get your hands on enough crime fiction, this is the
book for you. If you have an interest in police corruption, you’re likely to
enjoy Triple
Homicide. If you don’t fit into any of those groups, take a pass. Steve
Hopkins, January 22, 2008 |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
Go to Executive Times Archives |
||||
|
|
||||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the February 2008 issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/Triple Homicide.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
