 |
- Mystery - |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Shooting at Midnight |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Shooting at Midnight byGreg Rucka Bantam Books 432 pages, July 2000 ISBN 0553578278 Reviewed by Diane Gotfryd Strength married to responsibility is an irresistible combination, whether in a real person or in a fictional character. Rucka’s first three books, KEEPER, FINDER and SMOKER fit the bill in Atticus Kodiak, a young bodyguard with talent and sensibility. All three books made me read far into the night. As much as I liked Atticus, I was leery of the woman he admires, a private detective named Bridgett Logan. As seldom as she appears in the first three books, my thought was that Atticus should dump her. In Shooting at Midnight, Rucka tries something only a few authors have done - changing the point of view over to another character. Imagine my surprise to discover Bridgett the star of the book, and thus everything told from her perspective. Bridgett thinks and talks similarly to Atticus. It is unclear whether this is intended to create a nearly claustrophobic world filled with protectors and innocents, or if this may be just a weakness in writing - but it doesn’t get in the way of a good read. A couple of hundred pages into the book, Atticus enters again. I knew the author had hooked me when I regretted seeing Bridgett temporarily step back. Because Shooting at Midnight is a departure from Atticus’ life, it could be considered a stand-alone book. There is no need to read the first three Rucka books to enjoy this one. And it is a riveting read, as Bridgett sinks as low as she can go in New York city’s drug underground in a desperate effort to save a friend from her past. The author writes clearly and without moralizing, and I came a step closer to understanding drug addiction by the time I closed the book. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||