Wednesday, October 27, 2010

The Last Confession-Solomon Jones

The Last Confession
Solomon Jones
Minotaur, Nov 9 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780312580209

A mass killer calling himself "the Angel of Death" murders three people in a church. The police arrest Father Thomas O'Reilly, who is convicted and sentenced to death. In spite of the overwhelming evidence against the priest that he committed the Confessional Killings, Philadelphia homicide detective who led the investigation Michael Coletti had doubts.

Now a decade since the killings, Coletti is near retirement after over three decades on the force but as the O'Reilly execution date nears, his sense that the wrong man was convicted remains strong especially when he poorly sleeps. When homicides similar to that of the Angel of Death occur, Coletti believes the culprit has returned. He, police detective Charles Mann, and Pennsylvania state police profiler Mary Smithson try to solve the killings with clues that lead back to Coletti and the long time homicide detective’s old cases.

Super Solomon Jones provides a strong gritty police procedural in which the author merges his Street Lit roots into a grim Philadelphia whodunit. The story line is fast-paced as the audience is hooked wanting to accompany the cops as they investigate the new wave of murders. Although the final confrontation fits the key cast personalities and the inquiry (from a Monday morning quarterback perspective), it feels too simple yet somehow apropos as Mr. Jones with his unique voice is a great welcome to the sub-genre.

Harriet Klausner

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