Reviews

Kostoff's disjointed noir thriller centers on the efforts of Ben Decovic, a former homicide detective in Ohio, to rebound from the death of his wife, gunned down in a shooting spree, by trying to solve a highprofile murder. Now a beat cop in Magnolia Beach, S.C., Ben insinuates himself into the search for the killer of Stanley Tedros, a soft-drink magnate whose signature product, Julep, had recently become a national hit. Unknown to Ben, the victim's nephew's avaricious wife, Corinne, who wanted Stanley to accept a lucrative offer to sell his company, hired the hit man involved. Ben ends up getting personally invested in the case when he starts sleeping with the daughter of a witness to the murder whose Alzheimer's prevented him from communicating what he saw. While Kostoff (The Long Fall) avoids a pat ending, his protagonist's lack of depth makes this a less than memorable read. (July) Copyright 2010 Reed Business Information.