My first John Straley novel, and it turns out to be the 8th in his Alaska based Cecil Younger investigator series. I found it fascinating — now I just have to see how much I like the main character when I start back at book #1
The story in brief: Cecil’s daughter’s friend George (for Georgina) does a surprise DNA test for herself and her unaware mother. The results are not what she expected, and the book takes off from there — and I mean really takes off. Meanwhile, Cecil is in jail serving time for murder of a man who had done something terrible to his daughter. I don’t know what that was and I’m guessing it took place in one of the previous books I haven’t read yet, but I have to say that his experiences in prison and the way he participated in the story from there were deeply interesting from both an action and a psychological / philosophical perspective.
I loved the characters — from Cecil himself, to his possibly autistic best friend, to his research scientist wife, to the personalities in prison, to the long bearded survivalist defense attorney, to the Tlingit parents, and to the teenagers at the center of it all. I think what I liked best about the characters is that they all have a strong sense of morality and principles and they stick to them. The morality may or may not not be the same as yours or mine — but it exists and is consistent. Loved the Alaska setting and the various relevant discussions of prison life including gender fluidity and the psychology of the relationships between inmates and parole boards, men and women, black and white.
I’ve already gone back and started the first in the series…
Books to look forward to ... 