The Hundredth Man
by Jack Kerley takes readers to Mobile, Alabama in this police procedural. It
is the first read of a multi book series that contains more than a dozen
novels. This is a good read that is graphic, at times, and not for those who prefer
a traditional cozy style read.
Detective Harry Nautilus and Detective Carson Ryder
have a bit of a reputation thanks to the media coverage regarding a recent
case. This means that there are many in the department who do not like either
one of them. That includes Captain Terrence Squill who is angling to be the
next police chief as rumors abound that Chief Hyrum is about to take early
retirement.
They and a couple of specialists are part of Chief
Hyrum's new project, the “Psychopathological and Sociopathological Investigative
Team” referenced by the unfortunate moniker, PSIT. While Homicide Detectives
Nautilus and Ryder are assigned to the first district in the city of Mobile,
any case that is under the purview of PS11 becomes their case no matter where
it occurs. A body missing the head could fit their mandate and would be their
first case under the program.
A headless body on the southwest side of the city is
their callout this night. Besides missing the head, the dressed male body has
been posed a certain way so that he could be found quickly. It is only later
when the body is nude at the morgue that it is discovered that there is writing
on the body. Two horizontal lines of words that are a message from the killer.
It will not be the last message sent.
While the case is the major storyline, there are a
lot of other storylines in the complex read. A book that uses politics,
personal relationships, as well as several classic crime fiction tropes
(veteran detective partnered with a rookie detective, a grandstanding and massively
incompetent boss, hatred of the FBI by locals, etc.) to create the start of a
multi book series. Written by a former advertising executive, it seems
occasionally as the author did a survey of what worked for other authors and
threw those pieces in here.
Of course, how he mixed those pieces together
defines his book. The Hundredth Man by Jack Kerley is a solidly
good read. Just don't be surprised if now and then you read something and it
reminds you of another crime fiction or police procedural. Billed as a
psychological thriller, the read is more of a police procedural than anything,
though it does contain elements of other genres.
The next book in the series, The Death
Collectors, is on hold for me at the library.
The Hundredth
Man
Jack Kerley
Dutton (Penguin
Group)
https://www.penguin.com/publishers/dutton/
June 2004
ISBN# 0-525-94821-X
Hardback (also
available in audio, eBook, and paperback formats)
314 Pages
My read came from the Downtown Branch of the Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2021
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