Title: Cold Case Closure
Author: Patrick Ian O’Donnell and Charles O. Gaylor
Publisher: AuthorHouse
ISBN: 9781546204046
Pages: 366
Genre: Crime / Mystery
Reviewed by: Davis Bishop
Pacific Book Review Star
Awarded to Books of Excellent Merit
Police procedures, particularly those involved in cold cases, take front and center in this intriguing and entertaining novel, Cold Case Closure, by Ian O’Donnell and Charles O. Gaylor. The unfortunate but actual fact is that many crimes don’t get solved quickly enough to warrant the time and expense it takes to continue to pursue them. But even though life moves on, this book reminds us that justice, like revenge, is sometimes served cold when police organizations have the resources to continue looking for the truth.
Grant is a veteran detective sergeant nearing retirement who’s assigned to a special cold case squad. He manages to get his son-in-law, Mike, to take his place when he turns in his badge for a full-time fishing rod. Mike is a first rate guy and a standup cop who takes his job just as seriously as Grant did. He begins to pursue old cases that Grant indicated were of particular interest. As Mike begins to look into these very different unsolved murders, Grant’s satisfaction with retirement begins to wane. He decides that perhaps there’s another way to find killers and dole out justice that doesn’t necessarily involve following the law. Soon Grant and Mike are on a collision course that, no matter the outcome, seems destined to end badly.
While the aforementioned plot plays out, readers are continually kept involved by the circumstances and characters involved in crimes being re-examined. In one, an elderly man is found murdered and the prime suspect is a deliverer of meals-on-wheels. In another, a body is found both bludgeoned and strangled, indicating the killer particularly enjoys his work. A third involves a young woman who may have conspired to have her own mother killed. There’s also a case where there is no victim, no body and no initial proof that a crime has been committed, but this missing person’s report eventually turns into a murder investigation.
The crimes themselves are interesting, but even more interesting are the procedures and techniques the detectives go through in looking into the law breaking. Nuances of behavior become “tells” that indicate authorities are getting less than the truth from witnesses and suspects. New eyes looking at old facts realize that potential clues have been mismanaged or entirely overlooked. Dogged perseverance often proves more valuable than eyewitness testimony, and continual follow-up turns up one lead after another.
The authors spin their tale with uncomplicated prose that would be as at home in a police report as it is within the pages of this novel. There’s a feeling of authenticity which pervades page after page as each individual crime is looked at anew. Pace is kept swift by the avoidance of irrelevant subplots, and always, the looming convergence of Grant’s moral retribution and Mike’s commitment to the law portend potential disaster. This is a novel that keeps you involved from first page to last. If you’re a fan of police procedurals, you’ll likely warm up to these cold but not forgotten cases.
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