The Interrogation

To describe this as a crime story understates the depth of character development and the motivations in what is a dark story richly told. It is the subtle and sometimes not so subtle ways that the motives for the characters behaviors are revealed. Thomas Cook manages to bring you into the minds and souls of his characters with all their hidden strengths and flaws. It is also a period piece that requires you to think about the place and time that these events occur and perhaps how differently the story would be if it happened today.Simply put, this book is in my top 10.

This is really a wonderfully realized and written book. Cook has become the master of those "flashback, here's what happened" books, and this one is his best. It is almost Dickensian in its use of coincidence and happenstance events, each leading to a tragic denouement. The interrogators, Pierce and Cohen, are richly drawn, flawed characters, each with secrets to live with and deal with. There is a sense of ominous tragedy in each of these characters; Thomas Burke, the Chief of Police, has his own tragedy: his vagrant/dope addicted son is dying; we have the characters of Eddie and Terry--garbage collectors. Eddie feels guilty because he has to work the night shift while his daughter is at home sick; Terry is the boss' son and doesn't want to even be associated with Eddie; there are so many characters whose twisted lies and deceptions lead them irrevocably toward doom. And of course, we have Jay Smalls, the man the police think killed little Kathy Lake in the park. Did he? The resolution of this is mouth-dropping, but logical. My only reservation is why was Jay Smalls like he was? What happened to him when he was a youth? Cook lets us make our own decisions on this one.This, however, is one heck of a read!

The Interrogation is a departure from Thomas H. Cook's terrific, but more leisurely recent thrillers. A hard-boiled, police procedural would seem an unlikely showcase for his elegant prose. Nonetheless, he has pulled it off. There are passages in this book as moving and gorgeously rendered as any you will read in any book in any genre. The plot is a twisting, turning labyrinth that holds our interest, but the memorable turns of phrase and the masterful use of language floating effortlessly above the sordid subject matter are what make us regret our arrival at the final moving sentence.

`The Interrogation' is all about atmosphere.If it were a movie it would be a classic black and white film noir starring George Raft.If it were a painting it would be "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper. If it were a sound it would be the echo of unseen footsteps in the dark streets of an empty city.Thomas Cook has masterfully created a bleak and silent city filled with solitary characters that are almost without exception imprisoned by their own loneliness, loss and guilt. At the center of it all is the marathon interrogation session going on in interrogation room 3. Oddly, this sparring between the detective and the child murder suspect is by far the most personal and intimate exchange in the book. We hang on every question and response, whether verbal or by body language. Is he guilty? Will he crack? What will they do to him if he doesn't? What will the new day bring? Keep reading and find out. Seldom have I read a genre book so skillfully written. This is the first of Cook's books that I have read and it most definitely will not be the last.

Fourth grader Cathy Lake was supposed to meet her mother in the lobby of her friend's apartment building but failed to show up. Shortly after she was reported missing her twisted bloody body was found in the park near the duck pond. The police questioned several of the homeless that live in the park before arresting twenty-six years old Albert Jay Smalls, a vagrant who resides in a drainpipe. After holding him for almost two weeks, the police have no evidence or witnesses that can place Smalls in direct contact with Cathy. The police have only twelve more hours to charge the homeless man with the crime or release him, something they are loath to do since the lead detectives, the chief of detectives and the chief of police are convinced he's guilty. They intend to use their remaining twelve hours to try and break him so they can get at the truth. THE INTERROGATION takes place in 1952 before Miranda and Gideon at a time when the police had more latitude in dealing with a suspect involved in a heinous crime. This crime thriller is a fantastic historical police procedural due to the dynamic interactions of the characters and their personal perspectives on the crime. Thomas H. Cook is a mesmerizing storyteller, who knows how to create and sustain suspense throughout the story.Harriet Klausner