Customer Reviews

Come Clean

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When I first read and reviewed this book three years ago, when it was released by the author under a pen name, I said that it was one of the most original, suspenseful and outright *terrifying* mystery novels I have ever read ... and that distinction still remains. The author is skilled at feeding the reader carefully-timed tidbits of information, before they become evident to those trying to solve the case, making the reader feel smart and leading to "obvious" conclusions. Unfortunately, what seems obvious in the last chapter is proved to be impossible in the next, and one is left frustrated and doubting how this will all be tied together somehow, but it is, masterfully.

In a nutshell, Kevin Porter is a retired Canadian "mountie" who stumbles onto the scene of a grisly murder, after his boyfriend Brent (about half of Kevin's age; Kevin is Brent's "senior toy") asks him to check on a university colleague who did not return from her weekend retreat for her Monday morning classes. The unique "clean fettish" of the killer also serves to erase all of the usual sources of evidence, frustrating the RCMP investigator (a former subordinate of Porter's) who is assigned to the case. The chapters alternate between the Porter's and the killer's perspectives, and we learn early on (Note: NOT a spoiler, as this is within the first two chapters) that the killer works as a make-up artist on the Vancouver-based filming of the "X-Files" TV show. A series of complicated incidents result in Porter's being "outed" to his former RCMP colleagues, and his lover Brent becoming a suspect in the murder, two developments that are handled quite realistically. The investigation goes on while Vancouver police are also investigating the latest in a series of gay-bashing murders in a public park, and readers learn there is a connection before the investigators do.

The tale is not for the squeemish, and a comparison of the murderer to Hannibal Lector isn't far fetched. My highest possible recommendations for this overlooked masterpiece, which I am very glad to see is back in publication.

"Come Clean" is well written and insightful in its description of the cross-generational and cross-cultural relationship between the detective and his domestic partner. The villain and his crimes, while believable, were too gruesome for me, and the ending too farfetched to be satisfying.