Isolated Incident [Paperback]

Susan R Sloan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1999

At first glance Seward Island is an idyllic rural community. The perfect place to raise a family. So when the ravaged body of young Tara Breckinridge is found the reaction is shock and a refusal to believe that the murderer could be one of Seward's own citizens. The islanders clamour for a speedy arrest and any likely candidate will do. Eyes turn to a recent arrival, Jerry Frankel, who is from the East, Jewish, liberal and outspoken - a combination which makes the community leaders uneasy. Then, as certain unsettling facts emerge about his past, prejudices that have been simmering beneath Seward's placid surface begin to emerge, guaranteeing that hate and ignorance, not the pursuit of justice, will dictate the outcome of the case. Inspired by a true story about the malignancy of prejudice, AN ISOLATED INCIDENT, is a novel of rare dramatic intensity, social resonance and breathtaking drama.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Ensconced in a Pacific Northwest paradise on Seward Island, Jerry Frankel, a high school history teacher, unexpectedly finds himself the primary suspect in a brutal stabbing of 15-year-old Tara Breckinridge. Soon the mob mentality of outraged citizens transforms the bucolic island into a place where bigoted viewpoints emerge as dangerous as the killer. In their efforts to solve the island's first homicide, Ruben Martinez, chief of police, and Detective Ginger Earley, discover that their professional admiration for one another has taken a romantic detour. Their suspects include Malcom Purdy, an ex-marine who conducts mysterious munitions training camps at his isolated bunker; Danny Leo, who tutored Tara in secret sessions; and Frankel, the Jewish teacher with a suspicious past back East. In her second novel, Sloan affirms her talent as a masterful mystery writer by showering the reader with a meteoric panorama of spine-tingling emotions, conspiracy, and drama. Highly recommended.
-?Mary Ellen Elsbernd, Northern Kentucky Univ. Lib., Highland Heights
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Following the success of her first thriller (Guilt by Association, 1995), Sloan returns with an excursive police procedural set in a racially divided northwestern town--a tale that, however imperfect the narrative, yields intoxicating suspense. Seward Island is a 45-minute ferry ride from Seattle, but urban life rarely touches this cloistered haven where crime remains virtually nonexistent. So when the daughter of the town's foremost businessman is found in a dumpster, brutally stabbed to death, Police Chief Ruben Martinez and tomboyish detective Ginger Earley know they're in for a hairy investigation. The 15-year-old victim, Tara Breckenridge, was quiet, popular, and devoutly Christian, but apparently not perfect: She was also pregnant. And, since Tara suffered stab wounds primarily in the abdomen, Martinez and Earley assume the killer to be an adult male worried about his reputation. After months of investigation (and the chief and his detective's blossoming romance), Seward Island's top cops are short on leads, and the community is clamoring for a lynching. Meanwhile, recently relocated Jerry Frankel, a Jewish high-school history teacher, tries to convince his bigoted students that the Holocaust was not a myth (as their parents have led them to believe); and a vaguely depicted secret society meets in a shadowy basement. Then, one of Frankel's students informs Earley that he saw his teacher's car near the scene of Tara's murder, and another asserts that she once saw Frankel put his arms around the girl. Naturally, Frankel becomes the prime suspect, and the town gossips condemn him with all the name-calling the local brand of anti-Semitism can muster. The evidence is unclear: Frankel could have been set up, or he may in fact be a cold-blooded child-killer. Sloan's probe into the nature of race and justice is hardly subtle, her prose clumsy, and her plot strained with overwritten characters. Still, the thrills come one a minute, and they chill to the bone. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 455 pages
• Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks (April 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0751520217
• ISBN-13: 978-0751520217
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (80 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,479,432 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Isolated Read, February 28, 2000

By 

BAERAZZ @ AOL.com (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Isolated Incident (Hardcover)

I really liked this book. I am an avid reader of mysteries and who-done-its. This book was one I couldn't wait to get to at the end of a long day. It was just downright interesting. Although I had the bad guy correctly pegged in about the middle of the book, it was still a good read. It probably helped that I live in the Great Pacific Northwest, making it all the more interesting. The characters were interesting and human. In one's own mind, the scenery was magnificent. I'm going to read Ms. Sloan's other book very soon.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book is a big disappointment., May 16, 1999

By 

E. Bukowsky "booklover10" (NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: An Isolated Incident (Hardcover)

I am a librarian in Brooklyn. One of my patrons has been nagging me for months to read this book, claiming that it is terrific. Boy, is she ever wrong! Although the book had possibilities, as it progressed, the writing deteriorated steadily. Sloan makes a mishmash of racism, police procedurals, small town gossip, an ambitious reporter and many other ingredients that are too muddled together. Instead of a crisp resolution, the book falls flat at the end. I knew who the murderer was, so there was little suspense there. Sloan should have fleshed out her characters and constructed a plot that was a little less busy and a little more put-together. The book was too long and it sagged after the middle. Sloan also hits the reader over the head with her message that we must be more tolerant and less small-minded in our relationships with those whom we perceive to be different from us. I do not recommend "An Isolated Incident" to readers who enjoy crisp writing and a sensible plot line. I was quite disappointed.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Read!, January 23, 2000

By 

"tneitze" - See all my reviews

This review is from: An Isolated Incident (Mass Market Paperback)

I was fortunate to discover this author! This book was a great read providing lots of suspense and a surprising ending that shocked me! Susan Sloan is not your average fiction writer. A must read-great entertainment!