Thursday, August 13, 2020

Pandemic Audio: "Chat" by Archer Mayor

Pandemic: Chat by Archer Mayor, 2007 (2007-ish, I had a paperback).

Mayor kinda tries out a computer angle but not really. This is still a police procedural with crime scene evidence and lots of interviews. Mayor is good at writing police interviews with witnesses and suspects. All the strategy and thinking and experience that is used with people. Mayor's characters recognize their tactical screw-ups during interviews and change tack as needed.

Willie Kunkle as comic relief. Kunkle the long-term grouch who Gunther acknowledges is an asshole and unemployable anywhere else because of it. I wonder if more recent novels reflect societal changes and push for police reform. Kunkle goes beyond the legally allowed lying of police and beats a witness. Kunkle is worse than a flawed character with a heart of gold. 

Anyhoo. Two dead bodies show up in the winter. Middle aged guys with no ID. Police have no idea who they are or why they were in VT. Investigations follows with links to chat rooms and men looking for sex with teen girls.

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