I began writing about books for the New York Times in late 2023 and officially began my tenure as the horror fiction columnist for the New York Times Book Review in January on 2024. I love that gig with all my heart, but it often makes me miss something else I love with all my heart: crime fiction. Sure, I’m still reading crime (and noir, thrillers, mystery suspense, true crime, etc), but I’m not writing about what I read, and writing about what I read is what I’ve always done. Solution? Start a column to talk about crime fiction. The perfect place? CrimeReads, a place that has supported me from the start. Yeah, I’m happy to be here. Let’s talk about some new books.
Steve Cavanagh, Witness 8
(Atria)
While they are all different, there’s one thing that all Steve Cavanagh novels share: you start reading, you’re hooked. Witness 8, Cavanagh’s latest, is no different.
In Witness 8, the eight entry in the Eddie Flynn Series, Eddie and the gang are back and trying to tackle a complex murder case that went down in one of the city’s most affluent neighborhoods. John Jackson is innocent, and Eddie knows it, but the truth is weaker than Jackson’s DNA on the murder weapon, which was found in his home. While Eddie works on getting to the bottom of the Jackson case, he must also stay busy keeping himself alive because some fine members of New York’s Finest want him dead, and they’ve put a bounty on his head.
With the author’s knack for pacing, action, dialogue, and humor in full display here, Witness 8 is exactly the kind of gritty, funny, violent, carefully plotted narrative we’ve come to expect from Cavanagh while also being its own thing. The story is packed with tension and more questions than answers. Ruby, a character that quickly becomes half the heart of the story, is an intriguing character whose agenda drives the plot but also a vehicle through with Cavanagh explores identity and belonging in the world of the ultrawealthy.
Reading an Eddie Flynn novel is never not fun, and Witness 8 is a blast even when Bloch’s not around.
Jean Echenoz, Command Performance
Translated by Mark Polizzotti
(NYRB)
Jean Echenoz’s Command Performance is an amazing novel. In terms of genre, it’s a sort of detective novel, but in the same way that a tomato is a fruit; sure, but it’s not the same.
Gerard Fulmard lost his job as a former flight attendant under some bad circumstances and desperation pushed him to try his hand at being a private detective. It took a while to get his first case, and it quickly turned into a dangerous disaster. In the aftermath of that fiasco, Gerard starts working for a shady political splinter group. Once in, Gerard’s quick, bizarre journey inside the group will lead him to murder, amongst other things.
There’s good weird and bad weird, and this novel is the really good kind. Echenoz’s prose is like a wild, unpredictable animal that’s also very colorful, so you read and enjoy it even if there at times when you’re not exactly sure what’s happening and wouldn’t dare a guess as to what comes next. Gerard is a strange man, the story starts with a bizarre catastrophe, and every character in the novel has a quirky biography and unique personality. That Echenoz weaves these elements into a satisfying read is a testament to his talents as a storyteller.
Hannah Deitch, Killer Potential
(William Morrow)
Hannah Deitch’s Killer Potential is an impressive debut that shows its author has exactly that.
Evie Gordon was on the path to greatness from early on. Smart child. Gifted. Talented. Good grades. Went to a great university. Then, life kicked her in the teeth with reality. Evie now makes a living as an SAT tutor rich kids in Los Angeles. She spends hours in fancy living rooms and posh kitchens and enjoys peeing in magazine-worthy bathrooms. Besides that, Evie’s life isn’t that exciting, and the bright future she was promised–all that upward social mobility her education would provide–is nowhere to be found. And then everything changes. Evie shows up to a tutoring session on a Sunday and finds an open door and a quiet house. A few minutes later, she discovers the bodies. And then a woman trapped in a closet and crying for help. After one more surprisingly violent encounter in the house, Evie and the odd, quiet woman she rescued are on the run, now not only scared and confused but also murder suspects with no clue about who the killer could be and nowhere to go.
The first third of this novel is amazing and the voice is an electric, snarky marvel. The action, voice, violence, pace, tension, and the way Deitch manages the mysterious woman, her story, and the way she comes out of her shell are all great elements here. Unfortunately, the narrative loses its power halfway through as it switches into a sort of introspective love story that lacks the intensity of the start.
I find it really cool when a novel gives me very specific things and I can connect with them immediately, and this novel did that. Like Evie–and like Deitch–I worked as a tutor for rich kids. In my case, it was in Austin. Deitch nails the awkwardness and the dynamics of that job perfectly and with the perfect amount of cynicism, which is a lot.
Killer Potential is solid, faulty debut that explodes at first and then fizzles out, but it contains enough good stuff to make want to check out whatever Deitch does next, and that’s not something all debuts pull off.
