As Almost
Midnight by Paul Doiron begins, Mike Bowditch is on vacation and
fishing. He deserves it and needs it after being promoted to Warden
Investigator and moving to his new area. He was enjoying his rare break until
he got a phone call about Billy Cronk. Billy wants to see him and as always
with Billy the matter is urgent and can’t be spoken about over the phone. Which
makes sense since Billy Cronk is in prison as a result of the actions he took
as he saved Mike Bowditch’s life.
The legal system saw Cronk’s actions as excessive and he is
now serving a prison sentence. The fact that locking up a man who, at the best
of times, wasn’t the most mentally stable weighs heavily on Mike as does his
guilt over testifying as there was no around the truth of what Billy did that
fateful day. By telling the unvarnished truth, which Bowditch felt he had to do;
his testimony was a major point for Billy’s conviction.
Billy
has been known to relate unhinged conspiracy theories before and Mike Bowditch
has no idea if the latest situation is another one of those deals or not. On
the face of it, maybe not. Billy explains that they have a new CO, Dawn
Ritchie. She is a sergeant and a transfer in from another facility that was
recently closed by the Governor. Billy wants Bowditch to investigate her and to
do it fast, but quietly. Frustratingly, Billy absolutely refuses to say and
then plays the trump card that Bowditch owes him.
Bowditch is very aware of that, but for him to stick his neck
out, Billy has to give him a reason. The blowback he would get over an
unauthorized investigation would be immense and with zero justification he just
can’t do it. Bowditch refuses.
That
is until with hours, chaos erupts at the prison with severe consequences for
Billy, Richie, and others. What happened inside and later at the hospital is
very complicated as are the background events that led up to the violence. As
things escalate, Bowditch uses his vacation time to conduct his own unauthorized
investigation into the case as well as deal with some other situations in two separate
and meaningful secondary storylines.
.
The
result of all these complicated situations and characters makes Almost
Midnight another very good read in the series. As always, the human dynamics
of various characters are interwoven with the beauty, often a stark and
potentially fatal beauty, of the Maine wilderness. The character of Bowditch,
as well as his relationships with others, continues to evolve making it very
important to read this series on order. Those already familiar with the books
and short stories will find another compelling and enjoyable read in Almost
Midnight: A Novel.
Almost Midnight:
A Novel
Paul Doiron
Center Point
Large Print
ISBN#
978-1-64358-283-2
Hardback
455 Pages
$38.95
My reading copy came from the Polk-Wisdom Branch of the
Dallas Public Library System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
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