Tag: Ellie Hatcher

by Alafair Burke
Series: Ellie Hatcher, #4

Hardcover, 348 pg.

HarperCollins Publishers, 2012

Read: November 9 – 10, 2015

Ellie Hatcher and her partner, Rogan are called to a very nice townhouse to start investigating a homicide. At least that’s how it was called in. As far as the EMTs, the police officers that were first on the scene, and Ellie’s instincts are concerned, it was a suicide. But the distraught mother has money and is married to a music producer of some note, so when they squawk “murder”, Rogan and Hatcher at least have to spend some time considering it one.

There are a number of little signs all along that point to homicide, but suicide is obvious, easy, and quick to handle. Even as evidence starts to pile up, Ellie resists seeing suicide. The greater part of this is written as her coming to grips with her father’s all those years ago. I didn’t buy that explanation, really — I couldn’t see why Ellie hadn’t jumped in with gusto, just in case. That seems more consistent with her character than this cynical cop we see here.

There’s another story here — somewhat tied to the other, but you’re never sure just how much it’s tied together until the end. A woman who was repeatedly raped by her mother’s boyfriend a decade or so ago, is seeking healing, seeking to tell her story. So she starts an anonymous blog, “Second Acts: Confessions of a Former Victim and Current Survivor.” But she starts receiving threats, threats that demand to be taken seriously (but not enough to involve the police until she’s forced to) — which just empower her to continue. At a certain point, the threats become more personal, and maybe the anonymity isn’t as strong as the blogger thought. You’d think following 212 that Hatcher and Rogan would be more willing to believe the level of violence threatened here, but they don’t seem to take it seriously until forced to either (although, once this lands on their radar, they handle it better than the suicide/homicide).

I liked — as characters, not necessarily as people — the mourning mother and most of the social circle of the dead girl, and the lady who runs the homeless shelter. But everyone else pretty much left me cold. Jess had so little to do this time, it’s a wonder Burke used him at all. The Max storyline was okay, but seemed a little pat and tired — especially in the way that Ellie and Max reacted to each other. I’m not looking for much out of that part of the series, but I’d like something interesting. Nothing Rogan did really caught my attention, he served as an okay foil for Ellie/someone to spur her on, but it really could have been any other character doing the same. Thankfully, the stories were strong enough to keep me invested.

In the end, this is a solid mystery, with plenty of red herrings and half-told-truths to keep the reader and the detectives questioning what they see in front of them. Ellie Hatcher continues to be a character worth spending time with — even when she’s wrong.

—–

3 Stars

212 by Alafair Burke

By HCNewton

On August 21, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

212

by Alafair Burke
Series: Ellie Hatcher, #3

Hardcover, 368 pg.
Harper, 2010
Read: February 25 – 26, 2015
It’s a law that in detective novels if you have two completely unrelated crimes being investigated, that one of the things the detectives are going to discover before all the pieces fall into place is that the crimes are completely related — one is very likely the cause of the other.^* So, in 212 we start with Crime A, and then move onto Crime B — and sure, there’s a chance that A was just to reintroduce to this world, maybe show how Ellie and her partner are just frustrated in general, and maybe set them up for something. Maybe A is there simply to remind us all that she’s human and vulnerable and not perfect.

We leave Crime A for B. It doesn’t take too long before it’s clear that B is going to be the focus of the novel, and that frankly, you’d like the novel to be short, because you don’t want the perpetrator walking even fictional streets for long.

Right away, I started to wonder just how she was going to the the two crimes together, and by page 93 I was pretty sure that the theory I’d been percolating would be correct, and I was feeling a little clever. Which lasted a while, until Burke showed me that I was no where near to the right path. For my ego’s sake, I’m just assuming that an early draft matched my thinking but then she had a brain storm to make everything better.

As usual, this is nicely plotted, well-paced, filled with likeable (when they’re supposed to be) and relatable characters. Also typically, Burke nails a lot of the little moments. It’s this kind of thing that elevates this over other similar novels. For example, when the parents of the central victim are notified of her death, Burke’s description of the scene is striking. She captured the moment perfectly (at least, as I imagine it’d play out). Ellie’s speculation about the future of their marriage? Icing on a tasty cake.

There is one hefty Coincidence Ex Machina essential to the plot that stretches credulity, but somehow Burke pulls it off.

My other quibble with this is that Ellie acts too much like a super-cop for someone so young. I’m not denying that she’s got good instincts and that she should be given more credit than she frequently is. But Ellie isn’t Harry Bosch, she shouldn’t treat J. J. like Bosch does his partners. I’d really like to see her work with J. J. a bit more, take advantage of his experience more. I like Ellie, I think in a few years she would be NY’s equivalent to Bosch and then could be excused for treating her partner like an assistant (although, she’s mostly too nice to do that — another problem I have with this treatment — and no one’s ever accused Harry of being nice).

My complaints do nag at me while I read — but Burke’s plotting and voice are strong enough that I can push them aside until I’m done enjoying the book. Could this book be better? Could the series? yes and yes. But there’s little in the world that can’t.

A quick, enjoyable read — solid work that’s a little better than it needs to be.

—–

^* The Law of Interconnected Monkey Business talked about in the Gideon Oliver novels, applies in a special way to all mystery novels.

—–

3.5 Stars

Angel’s Tip by Alafair Burke

By HCNewton

On January 20, 2015

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Angel’s Tip

by Alafair Burke
Series: Ellie Hatcher, #2

Hardcover, 352 pages
Published August 19th 2008 by Harper
Read: November 28 – 29, 2014The way that Dead Connection ended, I figured this one would be Ellie going back home for a while, and was pleased to see I was wrong. I really appreciated the way that Burke fed us details on Ellie’s trip to Kansas to investigate her father’s death in bits and pieces rather than in one big dump of information somewhere along the way and/or a novel-length tale. I’m sure at some point we will get a lot more time and attention paid to that story, but for now, I’m satisfied keeping the focus on Ellie’s work with the NYPD.

Instead, we find our detective thrown into another high-profile murder case — this time, a pretty co-ed visiting the Big Apple from Indiana ends up murdered after a night out on the town. The evidence seems to point at the kind of guy you want it to be (especially if you’re a Law & Order viewer): some young Wall Street type with more money and good looks than sense. But Ellie, naturally, stumbles onto something else. Something big — that goes back years.

And well, things proceed from there as they do in this type of book. Again, Burke had me fooled, and I didn’t see the solution until she wanted me to — but once she did, everything fit just like it should. Nothing spectacular here, but very satisfactory.

There were a couple of characters who were clearly introduced as redshirts (to borrow from another genre), interestingly drawn — moreso than many authors would do. I genuinely felt bad for one of them towards the end of their life, like I would have a major character I’d spent a book or two getting to know.

I thought the characters of Ellie; her brother, Jess; and her boyfriend with the name I can’t remember, were essentially who they were last time — a little more fleshed out. The highlight for me was Ellie’s new partner, the oddly (but believably) well-to-do Detective J. J. Rogan. I enjoyed him as a character, as well as his interaction with Ellie and hope Burke doesn’t replace him too soon (not sure why after only two books I assume that the role of Ellie’s partner will be adjacent to a revolving door, but I do).

This book wasn’t a lean-forward, turn the pages as fast as you can thriller. But man, it was hard to put down, and was just so easy to go from chapter to chapter to “just one more…”. Between her ease of style and likability of characters, this is just one of those books that you don’t want to put down. Not the greatest mystery novel I read last year year, but it was one of the smoothest reads.

—–

3 Stars

Dead Connection by Alafair Burke

By HCNewton

On June 24, 2014

In Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

Dead Connection

by Alafair Burke
Series: Ellie Hatcher, #1

Hardcover, 336 pg.
Henry Holt and Co., 2007
Read: June 22 -23, 2014

I’ll be honest — it was this video that got me looking into this series. I figured an author with taste enough to help out the Kickstarter enough to get that video as a reward is someone I’d enjoy spending time with.

And, yeah, I was right. Ellie Hatcher, her brother, and her father’s dark past are right up my alley. Rookie detective, Ellie Hatcher, has been temporarily assigned to Homicide to assist with the investigation into a series of murders revolving around the client list of an online dating site.

Ellie’s career-driven, haunted by the murder of her father (which the Wichita police have declared a suicide), idealistic and in love with New York City. She came to the city to look after her brother, Jess, a would-be rock musician with questionable judgment in recreational activities. She works harder than she should, spends more time on cases than she needs to, and no personal life outside her brother. So when given the chance to work a Homicide, she throws herself into it.

It’s quite the case, too. There’s a sociopath, Russian mobsters, identity theft, crooked cops, and enough other ingredients to keep Ellie burning the midnight oil and the reader to keep the pages turning as fast as possible.

This was a very clever mystery — downright smart, in fact. I’d guessed the killer, because of story structure/dramatics not because of the whys and wherefores and the psycho-ness of it all. I did put all the pieces together slightly ahead of Ellie (like half a page or so), but by that point, Burke wanted the reader to.

There’s a moral flexibility to the plot’s resolution, to ensure justice is done that I frequently quite enjoy in fiction — but would hate in reality. Which is why I read fiction and not true crime, I guess.

I’ll be back for more, very soon.

—–

4 Stars

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