The Suicide of Kate Evers by Eugene Kaster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
As usual, I received this novel for the ripe and familiar sum of nothing due to the kind consideration of a GoodReads giveaway. Despite that generosity my candid opinions follow.
Kate Evers is dead and given the title of the book this should come as no surprise whatsoever. The San Francisco police have ruled her death a suicide but her estranged husband isn’t buying that for a minute and he’ll do anything to prove she was murdered.
“The Suicide” is a novel that appeals most strongly to those who like to untangle large and complicated knots. The bulk of the book centers on the protagonist become widower as he picks apart a million tiny clues that lead him to the truth he seeks. Featuring everything from blood splatters to handwriting analysis to autopsy techniques this is a police technophile’s dream. It can, at times, be somewhat laborious and at at others gratuitously graphic but it’s a well composed journey through a dogged police investigation.
On the negative side, the author has a rather fearsome writing tic that can be very distracting. The majority of the novel is straightforward enough but periodically Kaster slips into what I can only describe as Yoda-speak and words in odd order they are suddenly. This rather disrupts the flow of the book but can be largely ignored if one is sufficiently persistent.
In summary, “The Suicide of Kate Evers” is a meticulous and detailed novel of a cuckolded husband’s quest to figure out what really happened to the wife that ran away to sleep around. The main draw is all the technical and investigative detail. Our author really knows what he’s talking about and weaves a great story for his readers. One does wish for just a bit of editing to counteract his tendency to channel the long-dead spirit of Yoda, however.
PS: It is my endeavor to provide reviews that are succinct, honest, balanced and above all help the potential reader to answer the simple question, “Do I want to read this or not?” Any feedback you can provide about how you feel I have accomplished those goals (or not) is immensely appreciated.
The Tattered Thread 