The 37th Hour by
Jodi Compton
pbk out January 05
(Coronet)
at £6.99
Sarah Pribek is a police detective on the missing persons squad of the Minneapolis
force. Her best friend, Genevieve, is on compassionate leave after the murder of her
daughter, Kamareia. Despite Sarah's best efforts, the man who killed the teenager
had walked free, leaving Sarah tormented by guilt and Genevieve devastated by her
loss. When newly-wed Sarah's husband, Michael Shiloh, fails to show up for his FBI
training, and she finds his ready-packed bag still under the bed, she puts all her
experience into trying to find him. Her quest forces her to acknowledge how little she
knows of Shiloh's past and propels her into digging up family secrets, knowing that
what she might learn may undermine her love for him. As each minute passes she is
aware that, according to police wisdom, after 36 hours the trail goes cold.
Compton has written an exceptional first novel. Sarah, Genevieve and Shiloh are all
flawed and credible characters who are thrust into thorny situations and forced to
make difficult moral choices. Compton switches the narrative between the past and
present as she reveals the history of Sarah's unconventional affair with Shiloh and the
tragedy of Kamareia's death. There is a dark vein in the story underpinning the
suspense and the denouement is truly shocking and leaves us wondering what will
become of them all. Compton is working on a sequel - let's hope she writes fast.
Manchester Evening News 21.2.04
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder)
The 37th Hour by
Jodi Compton
