A Cruel Season for Dying

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
Harker Moore's crime series gets off to a dramatic start in A Cruel Season for Dying with what could be the most sensational murders New York has ever seen: The first two victims are gay men, but that apparent pattern is broken when the third is an eight-year-old girl. Who killed them, how, and why are all a mystery, but the fact that the deaths are connected is never in any doubt: Each victim is discovered in a carefully posed position to accommodate the glorious white wings set in place in cuts under the shoulders. That haunting image of fallen angels sends a powerful message and creates a publicity frenzy. The high-profile case is soon homicide detective Lt. James Sakura's most urgent priority -- seeking a killer who seems to think he's waging war against God and humanity. Sakura's a good cop, a respected and honest detective. But, working this case straight, he risks making the wrong choices for the right reasons, choices that the killer may be counting on. Moore writes with a lyrical power and dazzling complexity that makes the face of evil chillingly beautiful and exquisitely cruel. Sue Stone

Booklist

outstanding...breathe[s] new life into the serial-killer subgenre...leaves the door open to what could become a truly original, psychologically rich series...the multicultural framework is far more than window dressing.

Publishers Weekly

Assured prose helps redeem a routine plot in Moore's mystery debut, which pits Japanese-American NYPD lieutenant James Sakura against yet another deranged serial killer. Sakura's adversary seems to target gay victims, who are found dead of unknown causes with swan feathers inserted into slits in their backs to simulate angel wings. The high-profile crimes focus both media and departmental pressures on Sakura, who races the clock to stop the murderer from killing again. A forensic psychiatrist and his disgraced former partner assist in developing a profile, a task that becomes more challenging when the MO appears to change. Promising leads come from a Yeshiva University professor, who directs the team to clues from the apocryphal Book of Enoch. Predictably, those close to the homicide detective fall into jeopardy. Flashbacks to Sakura's Japanese upbringing and his relationship with his blind wife provide glimpses of hidden depths, but these suggestive elements contribute little to his investigative approach, which ultimately depends too much on chance. Despite the novel aspects of Sakura's struggles to live as part of two cultures, fans of such serial-killer classics as Thomas Harris's Red Dragon may find this effort overly formulaic. Hopefully, in any future books about this sleuth who for now remains more enigmatic than intriguing, Moore will couple his writing talent with more creative story lines. Agent, Mel Berger. (June 4) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Det. Lt. Jimmy Sakura heads the task force investigating a New York City serial murderer. This killer targets homosexuals-beginning with a dancer, an artist, a model, and then a hustler-and poses their naked bodies with swan's wings. Sakura musters all the help that he can, including an officer with serial rape experience, a forensic psychologist, and a former intuitive partner. The perpetrator, meanwhile, seen in increasingly revelatory glimpses, begins to expand his activities, acting out a warped fantasy. Procedural elements, psychological subplots, and creepy killer machinations punctuate a brooding, intense search. Fine work from a first novelist. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A ritualistic serial killer is targeting beautiful gay men in New York City. He leaves his victims naked and posed like angels, complete with wings, but leaves behind no forensic evidence. As the angels pile up, frustration grows in the police team headed by Japanese-American homicide detective Jimmy Sakura. Leaks threaten to compromise the investigation. Dogged tabloid reporter Zoe Kahn apparently has a pipeline to Jimmy’s inside information. (She’s sleeping with one of Jimmy’s detectives, Johnny Rozelli.) Moore casts a wide net in his series debut, tracking the private lives of Jimmy’s team, and giving nearly as much time to the murders themselves and to Jimmy’s tender relationship with his old-fashioned Japanese wife Hanae as to the investigation. An amateur sculptor, blind but proudly self-sufficient, Hanae finds her friendship with fellow student Adrian Lovett drifting into mutual flirtation. With each new murder, Moore reveals more details of the anonymous killer’s ritual and psychosis. Suspicion falls on Father Thomas Graff, who shares the killer’s interest in provocative photography. He becomes an even likelier suspect when two victims diverge from the expected pattern. Inside a small church, the bodies of eight-year-old Lucia Mancuso and elderly Father Kellogg are found, only the latter executed according to the killer’s m.o. But Graff’s suicide and still another murder put Jimmy back at square one. Sufficient chills, but little shape or tension. The author seems concerned more with laying the groundwork for further episodes than crafting a taut tale, and mystery fans will deduce the killer’s identity early. Agent: Mel Berger/William Morris