An American Killing

It's been a while since I read this book, but I have no trouble remembering how hard it was to put down. It was a unique read, well conceived characters, swift moving plot, a refreshing brevity of language, ( dare I say for a female author?), and lots of surprises. What more can you ask for, you say? Well, I only ask for more, more, more! Unfortunately, this is the only book that this author has written of this genre. I'll keep looking and hoping though. More, please!

Gossipy and gripping, glamourous and gritty aren't contradictions in An American Killing but add zest to the mix in this intriguing multi-tiered thriller by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith. After four critically praised literary endeavors, including Masters Of Illusion (1994) and The Port Of Missing Men (1989), Ms. Smith has gracefully repaired to the thriller field. Her first effort in this genre is delivered with all the aplomb and style of an established master. Sure to garner new fans and plaudits for the author, An American Killing also gifts readers with one top-notch, skillfully conceived mystery. By choosing today's power-driven Washington, D.C. as her setting, the author establishes an immediacy that makes this chilling tale even more disturbing. Conversations with contemporary literati and weekends shared with Bill and Hillary satisfy a yen for insider scoops, while intelligent, probative comments regarding racism, politics, and marriage enrich the novel's narrative. Ms. Smith shows a special knack for revealing the intimate longings and protective responses of a bruised human heart. Smart and sardonic, Denise Burke is a true crime writer who has regularly snared bestseller list slots with her O. J. Simpson tell-all and revelations about murderous moms (think Susan Smith). Married to remote, rather oblivious Nick, a Clinton policy adviser, and mother of two almost unrealistically reliable and independent adolescents, she is privy to Washington's in-circle as well as Literary Guild soirees. Upon meeting attractive, charismatic Congressman Owen Hall, Denise is, in this order: impressed, involved, in bed with him. Suggesting that a black man, Eddie Baines, may have been wrongly convicted of wantonly stabbing the Montevallo family to death, Owen asks her to look into the murders. The crime site was his hometown of New Caxton, Rhode Island, a dried up industrial juncture that he describes as an idyllic New England community where a premeditated murder has never taken place and the street signs are red in honor of the football team. Unable to resist either her blue blooded lover or his request, it is not too long before Denise discovers a hint of "the violence that lays just beneath the surface of the guileless picture of New Caxton that Owen Hall had drawn." Commuting between Alexandria, Virginia, and her beach house, a safe half-hour from New Caxton, Denise's skills as a researcher begin to uncover the subterfuge, the cunning deception practiced by the entire community. When Owen does an abrupt turn-around and asks her to forget about the case, Denise isn't surprised. By that time she has discovered that his concern for a fellow man was prompted not by charity but by his own cowardice and abysmal past. A past that has somehow caused the death of a likable young reporter who was also looking into the case, and placed Denise's life in jeopardy. With Denise Burke Ms. Smith has created a witty, plucky and thoroughly likeable hero

Take notes on the conversations in this book - they're so zingy that you'll want to use Mary-Ann Tirone Smith's lines the next time you're at a cocktail party and the verbal dissections start. The people are smart in An American Killing, but it's the plot that keeps you riveted to your seat. It's breathless. I read it in one night. I can't wait until her next one comes out.

Intricately plotted, with a surprise ending that's perfectly right, as if you knew it all along, when you didn't. Very funny, very wise, a book you don't want to put down, with characters that stay with you long after you've reluctantly finished, and a place you'll never forget, and never want to go to, but know all about even though it doesn't exist. Hope for more Denise Burke, a woman you want to spend a lot more time with.

I can easily see why this book has been proclaimed one of 1998's best. "An American Killing" is a terrific read with a master's touch. The author's character development is exceptional and the story line one of the best I have read in a good while.If you're looking for a book to keep you company for a night, this is the one. I couldn't put it down until I had finished. The end may surprise but will not disappoint.