From Publishers Weekly
This slick, suspenseful thriller, the second appearance (after No Way Home ) of James Morgan, police chief of the seemingly peaceful Boston suburb of Bensington, begins with a suspicious death--and as luck would have it, a self-confessed murderer. An eccentric derelict named Dudley offhandedly tells Morgan that when he's not freezing, "I kill kids." This occurs just after a teenaged boy has apparently been pushed onto the rails of the subway near the Public Garden, the second such mysterious death in three years. If Morgan believes Dudley, then he must also consider the possibility that some of Bensington's respected parents have hired Dudley to kill their children. The tramp becomes the catalyst in a seamlessly devised plot which reveals the sordid underbelly of the town where many lead lives of quiet desperation. Morgan is involved with the stepmother of the dead boy; another woman suspects that her second husband may have been responsible for the death of her daughter; a former hooker is battered by a friend's belligerent husband; adolescent step-siblings begin a sexual liaison. A somber conclusion at a private care facility involves the abandoned elders of Bensington families and underscores the long line of loneliness and dreary existence often at the core of small-town life.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Coburn's disturbing tale explores the strange motives and hidden emotions of the folks who populate the sleepy village of Bensington, Massachusetts. An innocent-looking drifter brings matters to a boil when he claims to have been hired to kill local kids who've become an annoying inconvenience to their parents. Police chief James Morgan doesn't want to believe the drifter's macabre claim, but he can't deny the fact that two of the town's youngsters have died under vaguely suspicious circumstances. Compelled to take a closer look, Morgan finds it difficult to stop poking, even when his investigation reveals truths he'd rather not confront. Coburn's plot is a dazzling concoction of twists, turns, and switchbacks that keeps the reader constantly off balance. His darkly perceptive examination of the sad, sick souls of Bensington's mostly tormented citizens makes this a riveting story. If there's a fault, it's annoyingly overblown prose, but on the whole, this intense, satisfying tale is sure to please most mystery fans.
Emily Melton
