Tangled Web UK Review January 2007
The Strangler by
William Landay
hbk out February 07
Published by Bantam
at £12.99
It's the Boston Strangler, or rather it isn't. The backdrop to Landry's story of three
Irish-American brothers is the series of 13 murders that haunted Boston in the early
1960s. While the police believed there was more than one killer at work, the media
and the public attributed all the attacks to one man. And when psychiatric patient
Albert DeSalvo confessed it was too good an opportunity to be ignored. The novel
opens with the assassination of President Kennedy and Landry goes on to examine
the lives of the three brothers in the ensuing months. Their father, a cop, has
recently died and his partner is courting their mother. Eldest brother Joe Daley is a
cop, too, following in the family tradition. He's also a womaniser and a gambler with
debts running out of control. Middle-brother Michael is a lawyer, working in eminent
domain (compulsory purchase for UK readers) who gets dragged into joining a new
bureau set up to take a fresh look at the Strangler investigation. Youngest brother
Ricky is a thief, a smooth and skilful cat burglar making his living picking locks in the
best hotels and gaining access to the riches there. His girlfriend Amy writes for the
newspapers, taking the police force to task over their failure to solve the murders. As
the bulldozers clear The West End, flattening everything to build New Boston, the
mob is moving in, fighting a gang war for control of the city. The Mission Flats was
Landry's debut novel, this is his sequel and it is hard to believe he has not got more
titles under his belt. A great storyteller with intelligent, authentic dialogue and a very
filmic style to the work. Superb.
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder)
Thousands of New and used Books at your Fingertips...
Support Tangled Web - Buy Your Books Online
