Slow Fire

One of the mainstays of both western and detective fiction is the plot in which the big city detective (or loner on horseback) goes to a small town in the boonies, finds everything upside down and inside out, with the evil forces in charge and the law in tatters. Every Quinn Martin hero of the 60's and 70's has such an experience. Parker's take on this was the creation of Jesse Stone, the alcoholic, ex-LAPD detective, his marriage broken, his life on the edge of the abyss, who turns bi-coastal and sets up shop in Paradise, MA. Now comes Ken Mercer, with his own twist on a story line that nearly always works like a bandit. Will Magowan has left LA and his job as a narcotics detective for a job as chief of Haydenville, a town in northern California in which every resident seems to be tweaking, scratching, itching and committing mayhem. Looming above them all is a one-shot wonder writer, with a nasty pair of twin boys and a past that includes serious time in stir. Will figures him for the majordomo of meth, but with the whole town seemingly against him, including the smarmy mayor, the task of convicting him appears to be Sisyphean. Enter Will's wife Laurie, who offers soothing moments in a narrative of nearly unrelieved struggle and pain. Will's other support (a counterpart to Jesse Stone's Suitcase Simpson) is a young man named Thomas, who longs for a nickname and who desperately wants to be of help to his fragile chief. As the challenges increase, Will goes into the woods--that traditional locus of suffering and adventure--to stand up for justice and achieve a decent measure of personal redemption in the process. This is a very strong narrative, with interesting characters, a fully-realized setting and a piledriver plot. It is an exceptional debut for the author, from whom we should all now expect a Will Magowan series. I certainly look forward to one. Highly recommended.

Knowing he needed a change in location to kick his heroin addiction, narcotics detective Will Magowan leaves LAPD to take the position of police chief in Haydenville, California. His wife chose divorce rather than accompany him to the northern rural part of the state to reside in a trailer. Will almost immediately needs to apply his homicide detecting skills when the corpse of Caitlyn Johnson is found near a kayak. Soon afterward, Will gets involved in a bar shooting, other violence, and an incident with former Hell's Angel convicted killer Frank Carver who has become a writer and philanthropist. He also struggles with the town's greatest growth industry, meth production; the reason Mayor Bonnie Newman hired him but threatens to fire him as instead of abating the flow, it has increased. Will finds a meth stash at the cabin of Henry Bell, but the mark suicides rather than provide Will with information. The police chief believes good citizen Carver is the drug king, but proving it is difficult as nothing works to catch him. Slow Fire is a fast-paced rural police procedural that shines a spotlight on the small town meth problem that has not felt the impact of the recession; in fact is a growth industry. Will is a fascinating hero who struggles with addiction, his wife leaving him, and the threat of losing his last chance job. Fans will enjoy his stressed out life although some spins seem a bit over Mount Shasta. Harriet Klausner

I enjoy murder mysteries, but I tend to limit my reading of them to those that have female protagonists. If Slow Fire is any indication, I am missing out. Will is not what I think of when I think of a crime novel protagonist. He is multi-dimensional, sympathetic, sad, literary, and sardonic. I wouldn't necessarily want to go out and have a beer with him, but if I needed a detective, I'd want him: he is driven and committed. He also clearly relates to others' pain. One of the things I find most enjoyable about this novel is the way Mr. Mercer combines some pretty intense action, including violence and some graphic details, with quirky references to classic literature. The pace, plot, and action sequences all make the novel hard to put down, but the glimpses into Will's past and interests, as well as the slow unfolding of his family relationships, set the novel far apart from the run-of-the-mill murder mysteries. As another reviewer noted, the details Mr. Mercer provides including an understanding of tbe meth culture, police work, and the geographical lay-out of Northern California all come together to make this an incredibly well-rounded read. The visual depth of the writing made it easy to imagine this as a movie. This is an exceptional read--visually compelling and with a character who is real. I can't wait to read more from Mr. Mercer.

Frank Carver is the most interesting antagonist since Hannibal Lector. And "SLOW FIRE," is one of the most gripping and intelligently written crime books since Mario Puzo's "The Godfather." One of the things I admire most about Ken Mercer's maiden effort (I hope there are many more to come) was that I learned graphically detailed information about things I had not known about before: Like police pathology procedures, methamphetamine addiction, prison internment, explosives, and even kayaking. Mercer's research on these topics contributed significantly to my enjoyment of this page turner. The novel is not perfect in that i found one of the plot twists a little far fetched. but it"s sure as hell is an entertaining ride. And particularly (with references to Joyce, Tolstoy, Dante, Yeats and Oscar Wilde) a bonus for the literary inclined. Mercer's writing skills vault him far beyond the mindless prose of the "format" authors presently dominating this genre.

Just finished Slow Fire and found this first mystery by Ken Mercer completely engrossing. I don't know Mercer's background, but he seems to really know Northern California's meth culture well. My favorite mystery protagonists are Harry Bosch, Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, and Jack Reacher. Mercer's character Will Magowan has the new sensitivity of Pike and the intelligence of Reacher. I find it interesting as the father of young children to see both Mercer and Robert Crais depicting the vulnerability and potential emotional pain inherent in fatherhood. I hope Mercer brings this character back again and that we don't have too long a wait for the next book from this new and talented author.