Jay Brandon

AfterImage

FORGE

A shallow grave on the outskirts of San Antonio yields the body of a fourteen-year-old girl — and Herbie, her beloved stuffed dog. What kind of killer buries his victim with her childhood play-pretty? Jay Brandon's AfterImage stacks puzzle upon puzzle to build an expertly crafted thriller on the life of a single mother who finds herself on the wrong side of the law to support her two daughters. Readers will applaud the return of district attorney Chris Sinclair and psychiatrist Anne Greenwald in this razor-edged courthouse-and-crook tragedy. by Mike Shea Reviewed by Mike Shea

Christopher Reich

The Runner

DELACORTE PRESS

SO FAR THIS REICH APPEARS to be all rise and no fall. The Austin author vaulted onto best-seller lists two years ago with a thriller about (believe it or not) banking. Complexly plotted, Numbered Account was, at times, simply impenetrable, yet Reich's competence and confidence compounded the reader's interest. Those same authorial qualities enhance the action in The Runner. In his second suspense novel, set amid the wreckage of post-war Germany, an American lawyer serving on the International Military Tribunal searches for an escaped Nazi POW who executed a hundred American GIs. Further shoring up the can't-miss plot is Reich's obvious familiarity with Germany and the historical facts of the era; so demanding readers will readily forgive his formulaic flourishes (noble hero seeks personal as well as patriotic revenge, noble hero feels verboten attraction to glacial Aryan princess). And Reich gains bonus points for an objectivity often missing from post-war plots. This is no red-white-and-blue rah-rah tale; not all the bad guys are Nazis. By Anne Dingus Reviewed by Anne Dingus

Neal Barrett, Jr

Interstate Dreams

MOJO PRESS

Austinite Neal Barrett, Jr., sat down to write a crime novel and mayhem broke out. Interstate Dreams (Mojo Press) — a rollicking caper with a metaphysical twang — could use a little more starch, but it compensates with ace storytelling and charmingly oddball characters. Take Dreamer, the war vet with a metal slug in his skull that shuts down burglar alarms, allowing him to play Robin Hood when the mood strikes. Or stoic Mama Lucy, who rules the Vishnu Jesus Barbecue with an eerily prophetic hand. Barrett's narrative style isn't for everyone, but he's cornering the market on comic genre-bending. by Mike Shea by Mike Shea