The Guise Of Another
Allen Eskens
Prometheus/Seventh Street Books, Oct 6 2015, $15.95
ISBN: 9781633880764
Minneapolis Police Detective Alexander Rupert wonders how much
deeper into the cesspool he can fall.
Once a highly regarded and decorated cop, Rupert faces potential corruption charges as a Grand Jury looks into whether he
stole confiscated drug money.
Transferred to the Frauds Unit while waiting for the outcome of the
investigation, his peers treat him as a pariah who may taint them. Even his personal life seems flushed down the
toilet as Rupert believes his wife, instead of commiserating and supporting
him, has turned to someone else.
Rupert comes across the recent vehicular death
of James Putnam on a Minneapolis highway. He knows people die in car accidents, but
Putnam officially died fifteen years ago in a boating accident off the Coney
Island spit. As he ponders who the
second coming of Putnam really is and why he stole a dead man’s identity,
Rupert struggles with his wife’s abandonment and the apparent end of his
career. To make matters exponentially
worse for him, Rupert is attracted to the deceased’s non grieving girlfriend
and worse has the attention of ruthless soulless killer Drago Basta. While he
works the case to resurrect his career and reputation that instead may bury
him, Rupert’s well-regarded detective older brother tries to help him.
This exhilarating police procedural for the most stays focused on
the imploding world of a cop facing corruption charges while working an
investigation he believes is his Hail Mary redemption. The storyline engages the audience whether
looking at Rupert’s devastated marriage, the Grand Jury corruption probe or the
case. Only caricature Basta feels out of
place in this stark storyline; as he belongs in the Big Hit as the fifth wheel.
Harriet Klausner
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