From Publishers Weekly
Written in a terse, clipped style, this action-packed NYPD procedural follows Sgt. Marian Larch ( The Renewable Virgin ) as she heads up an investigation and tries to salvage her faltering love life. One day, while Larch is on duty in Manhattan's Lower East Side, four top-level employees of a laser technology firm--all with some level of government security clearance--are found murdered, handcuffed together and shot through the eye. Everyone agrees that their deaths are meant as a warning, but to whom or about what neither the company's president nor anyone else can fathom. Hindered by a partner who resents her and an overly ambitious captain, Larch is coerced into working with two FBI agents brought in because of the victims' classified government connections. Readers should sympathize with Larch, who is besieged on both personal and professional levels, but Paul's minimalist style and aloof point of view fail to grip the emotions. The fast pace, however, makes this an exciting read.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Kirkus Reviews
The author's Sergeant Marian Larch returns with a solid, if sometimes sluggish, police procedural (You Have the Right to Remain Silent, Good King Sauerkraut, etc.). Larch, working temporarily and rather unhappily in the Ninth Precinct, is assigned by Captain Defalco to head the investigation into the murder of four men, found handcuffed together, each shot through the right eye, identified as a top team of executives from Universal Laser technology--a company engaged in a secret project for the government, which brings FBI agents Page and Holland into the case. The bizarre killings seem to be sending a warning, and Larch, with no other leads, is sure it's a warning to others in the organization. Hard questioning uncovers a second, supersecret project at Universal unconnected to Washington, and company owner Edgar Quinn becomes Larch's chief suspect. A plethora of computer-speak feeds into the solution, along with the Sergeant's emotional roller-coasting and the involvement of her actress friend Kelly Ingram in a final setup that ends the case in a surge of melodrama. An intriguing if not totally convincing plot, an intrepid but vulnerable heroine, and a no- nonsense style--all make for flawed but agreeable entertainment. --
Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
