AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile
Chicago private eye Ashe Cayne does a lot of verbal sparring with cops and his client, news anchor Morgan Shaw. Amir Abdullah's narration puts a lot of heated tension--and a little sarcasm--into those exchanges. When Cayne is hired for bodyguard duty, he winds up investigating a shooting by police officers. Abdullah takes listeners through a couple of quick mental switches with plot surprises. He captures the gossipy tone of the stories Cayne hears about his client. Voicing Cayne's words and thoughts, Abdullah switches between the light tone of Cayne gushing over sushi and the intensity that develops as the detective delves into the mystery. As the investigation progresses, Abdullah captures the moods of both the newsroom and the witnesses. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
AUGUST 2023 - AudioFile
Chicago private eye Ashe Cayne does a lot of verbal sparring with cops and his client, news anchor Morgan Shaw. Amir Abdullah's narration puts a lot of heated tension--and a little sarcasm--into those exchanges. When Cayne is hired for bodyguard duty, he winds up investigating a shooting by police officers. Abdullah takes listeners through a couple of quick mental switches with plot surprises. He captures the gossipy tone of the stories Cayne hears about his client. Voicing Cayne's words and thoughts, Abdullah switches between the light tone of Cayne gushing over sushi and the intensity that develops as the detective delves into the mystery. As the investigation progresses, Abdullah captures the moods of both the newsroom and the witnesses. J.A.S. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-25
Hired to protect superstar Chicago news anchor Morgan Shaw, who says someone is trying to kill her, Black cop-turned–PI Ashe Cayne is drawn into investigating a police shooting that might be related.
A vision of perfection—“her eyes were a radiant topaz against flawless skin the color of warm cocoa butter”—Morgan seemingly has it all. Fabulously wealthy, she is “all but deified” by her legions of fans. But she has been feeling the heat from a rising young evening anchor at another station: the blond and beautiful Alicia Roscati. Desperate for news she can break to boost her dominance in the ratings, Morgan makes up the story about being stalked as a way to meet Cayne and persuade him to uncover the truth about the apparent execution of a young Black man by an undercover cop. In due course, Alicia dies a mysterious death; Cayne figures out that there's more to Morgan's supposedly kaput, kinky affair with married Illinois Senate Majority Leader Reinhardt Schmidt than she's letting on; and the wisecracking Ashe and his muscle-bound sideman, Mechanic, are attacked by Schmidt’s henchmen. Celebrity TV doctor Smith's third Cayne novel, following Wolf Point (2021), has the makings of a good and timely mystery. But the author becomes too easily distracted with gratuitous plot elements, including the return of the jilted Ashe’s ex-fiancee. And for a Chicagoan who makes so much of the city's settings and milieu, Smith gets a lot wrong, including the fantastical notion of an Oprah-like anchor in the Windy City, where there hasn't been anything resembling a star newscaster in many years. Those who know Chicago may find his odd practice of twisting the names of real-life celebrities—activist priest Michael Pfleger becomes Father Flagger, veteran anchorwoman Allison Rosati becomes Alicia Roscati—annoying. Thankfully, Bill Murray remains Bill Murray.
A scattered and implausible thriller.
