Customer Reviews

The Adagio: A Mystery

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Alan K. Austin has created a masterpiece. "The Adagio" is a well-written piece that takes the reader for a ride of a lifetime. A simple tale of a record containing a single misplaced note, a scream, weaves into an astonishing story of a man determined to prove his innocence.

Jack Duncan begins a casual affair with no clue of the drama that would result from it. With murder victims falling all around him, he must prove his innocence to the authorities and to his self.

This is a story that you will remember long after reading. It starts out with a bang. You may find yourself drifting off slightly in the middle, but hang in there because the ending brings everything together in a nice tidy bow, leaving you satisfied. This is an entertaining piece and I look forward to seeing more work from this talented writer.

This is an extremely well-written and taut mystery, detective story and thriller all rolled up in one package. It begins with the protagonist having an affair with a married woman and being discovered by her husband. Very soon the body count begins rising, and everything appears to be related to a mysterious scream heard (or not heard) at the end of a classical recording. The action moves from Nebraska to Iowa to New York City, and back and forth. There is a trial, an escape, and many pages about living the homeles and moneyless life on the streets and back spaces of New York and its surrounding area. The author keeps a few balls in the air at all times, but he doesn't drop any of them at all. This is a real page-turner, and I look forward to more books by this talented writer!

A brutal serial killer is actively killing to cover his tracks over a murder committed some time ago. Jack Duncan is a young actor playing a role in a play in Omaha, Nebraska and he engages in a sexual affair with his married co-star, Louise Thompson. The husband finds out about it and to his surprise the husband invites him to dinner at their residence. Quite naturally it is a somewhat of a stiff affair, the husband has Duncan listen to a vinyl recording of "Adagio" that was recorded live in Carnegie Hall with Leonard Bernstein directing the orchestra. Duncan hears the terrified scream of a woman on the recording and when he starts to snoop around Louise and her husband both turn up dead, Louise on Duncan's bed. Duncan is of course the prime suspect although at first he is dismissed as a suspect when a witness claims that he observed another person leaving Jack's residence.
A politically ambitious prosecutor tries Duncan and he realizes that the only way he is going to prove his innocence is to go to New York City and hunt down the killer. (Un)fortunately, the killer is hunting down and killing all people with any knowledge of his actions or in a position to help Jack. The additional killings allow Jack to pick up the trail and begin an adventure that leads Jack from the glitz of Carnegie Hall to the hideouts of society's outcasts. The ending is abrupt, after a great deal of slower movement, the conclusion takes place rapidly and the killer is exposed. There are excerpts from the killer's journal inserted at the end of chapters that give you hints as to who and what the serial killer really is.
This is an unusual murder mystery, what it lacks in terror it makes up for in uniqueness and unusualness. There is no point where you are so excited that you are tempted to turn the pages faster than you can read them and there are few actual clues as to who the serial killer is. It is also the case that there are times when you suspect that Duncan is in fact a mental case that has compartmentalized his murderous actions. With so many potential paths to follow, my interest was maintained through every page.

The Adagio is less a detective novel than a string of fascinating anecdotes. From Omaha to the streets of New York City and everywhere in between, hero Jack Duncan seems always to be on a wild, low-budget roadtrip rather than on the run from the law. Due to these diversions, the pacing is unusually slack for a crime novel. Suspense is not constant and the plot meanders into side trips that, though entertaining, often add very little to the plot.
For a novel with such a high-tension premise, this is a problem. Jack Duncan, hero and erstwile DJ, is an expert of bad timing and lucky getaways. After apparently racking up a body count which rivals that of some serial killers, he escapes from detainment during a trial...and becomes a freelance news reporter in New York. Admittedly, an interesting development, but not very relevant or realistic, and not good reading for mystery fans who expect the police to be hot on Duncan's heels.
But Adagio's quirky vignettes were also its great strength. Even when these went nowhere, (storywise,) They tended to be more solid and more engaging than the plot itself. Descriptions of Duncan's broadcasting work, his homemade street documentaries and his intense bonding with his cellmate in a medium-security prison all demonstrate the author's great skill with realism.
Rather than introduce a disguised culprit early, as so many mysteries do, Austin chose to bring in a villain late in the book. This was a disappointing move. Babcock was a fascinating bad guy, by far one of the most interesting characters in the entire book. He certainly deserved more attention, especially in his direct social interactions with the other characters. Even a good, long look at his art would have made him more hatable than he was - abruptly appearing in the plot as a stranger, he was a confusing introduction in the hectic crescendo of the great showdown.
The mystery itself is fractured, presenting the deaths of Louise Thomson and her husband as the immediate puzzle but highlighting the death of a woman who had been killed years before. The only real lead, a scream hidden in a unque recording of the Adagio, quickly becomes overloaded with significance and with the main character's obsession. The use of this device as clue, impetus and Deus Ex Machina begins to wear out about halfway through the book. The effect is only worsened by the fact that, for most of the book, no empirical evidence can be found to support the existence of this scream. Helpful characters seem very gullible on the whole; despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, most feel that Duncan must be innocent of the murders of his lover and her husband simply because his story is too outrageous to be false. When characters flock to Duncan's aid, their eagerness would be more convincing if they actually have a reason to aid and protect a convict and probable murderer. In short, Adagio needs more clues and more concrete clues to be a convincing mystery.
But Adagio is enjoyable for its miniature stories-within, and overlooking its flaws is easy. Austin has a great gift for realism. Parts of Adagio have a distinct ring of experience. The writing is quick and watertight, engaging to the very last word.
Austin writes with obvious experience, evoking unusual situations with great verve. The weaknesses in the plot of Adagio are severe but forgivable, and though parts are slow, this mystery qualifies as a fun read.