Prove the Nameless

by Terence Faherty

Overview

Owen Keane, dubbed one of the "freshest, most appealing figures in crime fiction" by the Philadelphia Inquirer, makes his fifth appearance in Terence Faherty's acclaimed series. While working for an Atlantic City newspaper, Keane is asked to investigate a twenty-year-old multiple homicide that claimed all but one member of a prominent local family. Keane's client is the sole survivor, a baby at the time of the killings and now a lost member of Generation X, as haunted by her unexplained escape as she is by the faceless threat that still hangs over her.

In a story that evokes Faherty's Edgar-nominated debut, DEADSTICK, Keane journeys into the past, uncovering a complex and dangerous trail of altered identities and secret guilt. His search leads Keane to a dual confrontation, as he must face both the murderer and his long-held fears.

At once thoughtful and startling, PROVE THE NAMELESS confirms Terence Faherty's status as one of the mystery genre's most unusual and provocative writers.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781732418431
Publisher:	Terence Faherty
Publication date:	08/14/2019
Series:	Owen Keane Mystery , #5
Pages:	310
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

Editorial Reviews

Owen Keane—Atlantic City copy editor, avocational private eye, and searcher after truth—makes his fourth appearance since his Edgar-nominated debut in Deadstick (1991). After tinkering with a 20-years-later newspaper feature on a local mass murder, Owen is put in touch with the crime's sole survivor: a college student still haunted by the slaughter of her parents and siblings. He begins to interview those concerned with the unsolved crime: frustrated cops, retired and still on the job; a Mob-linked widow whose husband, now dead, was implicated in the case; an exploitative cult leader turned self-help entrepreneur; a guilt- ridden neighbor. And then there's the young reporter who recapped the case and who challenges Owen to an investigative contest that ends in a sexual encounter. Throughout the search—which eventually loses him his job—Owen ruminates on past experiences and the nature of existence with an ex-seminarian solemnity that's his trademark. Fortunately, he also displays a gentle wit and compassion for those touched by a violence that proves to be not at all random.

Faherty offers a dense plot, an excellent South Jersey sense of place, and a likable and unusual hero. But he should take more trouble with the motivations of his secondary characters—murderers, just for starters.

Kirkus Reviews