Customer Reviews

The Murder Artist

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

In this masterful thriller by John Case (a husband and wife team), reporter Alex Callahan loses his energetic twin sons at a Renaissance fair in Maryland: one moment they are petting a whippet with a Shakespearean ruff around his neck, and the next they have vanished. The police have few leads, and the lead investigator is reassigned to a homeland security force. Alex, who cannot accept that he'll never see his beloved sons again, sets out on a trail that leads to a series of revelations, each one more chilling than the last. Helped along the way by advice from police detectives, private investigators, lawyers, and his own gut instincts, Alex fights his way toward the truth. The plot assembles the history of magic, voodoo practice, and the gruesome tastes of a psychopath into a non-stop thriller that will have most readers willingly accepting their bloodshot eyes as they read late into the night.

Remarkably, in all this fast-paced rush of a story, the authors never skimp on characterization and detail. From Alex's estranged wife Liz to the albino private investigator in New Orleans to the grocery clerk who gives Alex his final break, the characters are memorable and well-drawn; many, such as the one-lipped voodoo "houngan", are unforgettable. The settings are equally skillful, with the seedy underside of Las Vegas glitz contrasting with the more down-home grime of the swamps outside New Orleans. Even the Renaissance Faire, where the twins vanish, is brought to life with such convincing detail that it remains vivid even 400 pages later. The abrupt ending might leave some readers dissatisfied, but it thankfully skirts the maudlin.

Readers of thrillers should not pass up this breathlessly suspenseful novel. Well-written, intelligent, and fast-paced, The Murder Artist deserves a spot among the best of the genre.

I loved it!

If you like Thomas Harris you will probably like this book, though it's not as gory (but definitely has its James Ellroy moments). It's super smart with nonstop action. Had me from word one to the last word.

Now I'm looking for everything he ever wrote.

John Case doesn't do series characters, so each book presents you with a new hero to learn about. In this case it's one with whom we can all identify, that of a parent with a missing child, or in this case two as the children are twins. Then comes the dreaded phone call, a chilling silence, slow, steady breathing, and the familiar, plaintive voice of a child -- "Daddy?"

Put that down if you can.

After that, it's a thriller. And those familiar with John Case know that he does scary thrillers. There's no supernatural aspect, but the 'ordinary' people that John Case creates are scary enough in their own right.

Gee Im glad that my daughter is grown up.

I really enjoyed how this book started. It stands out against other thrillers in that the protagonist undergoes quite a bit of stress as events pertaining to his children's kidnapping unfold. John Case really wallops his character Alex Callahan by throwing the system at him. The police, his wife, and the media are on his tail over the disappearance. For the first half of the book you will be on your seat, captivated by an author tweaking this genre in new directions. But then it starts to fall apart. Alex follows up on leads and the story fades from a dynamite nail biting suspense novel into a run of the mill-seen it all before mystery.

Maybe if you haven't read too many thrillers you will enjoy this book all of the way through. But Alex is not really fleshed out as a character. You will not be left with any idea of who he is as a person. At least he does not posses any superhuman attributes and remains an `everyman,' so you will be able to relate with the character. And because this book is not a character study, it has to rely wholly upon the plot. So that is why it is just such a shame that the novel sheds all of the gripping earlier structure that Case built up and instead becomes a very typical step by step process. Another thing is that Case often writes in a manner that leads the reader to understand what Alex should be doing long before he does. This occurs quite often in the second half of the book and I don't want to give away the plot. You are left screaming at the character to ask this or do that, and he usually does, but not without long deliberation.

Lastly, I just want to recommend a couple of authors that you might enjoy much more than this effort by Case. Harlan Coben has written a couple of really good thrillers recently. Try one of his later ones without the character Myron Bolitar, and skip `Innocent' his most recent book. I guarantee that it will be similar in style to `Murder Artist', only better. An author I like even more than Coben is Denis Lehane, try `Mystic River' or any of his series that deals with a private eye duo in Boston.

What do stage magic, the art of Vegas illusion, origami and ghoulish voodoo rituals performed in the swamps of Louisiana have in common? In THE MURDER ARTIST they are all somehow linked to the abduction of Washington TV reporter Alex Callahan's twin six-year-old sons from a gala Renaissance fair in Northern Virginia. Out of these wildly disparate elements, and despite a convoluted plot that in places limps like an arthritic old `coon hound, Case conjures a (generally) gripping story that will keep you entertained right up to its ingenious (albeit somewhat improbable) ending.

Separated from his wife and fighting deadline after deadline at work, Callahan struggles to keep his sons entertained while they are staying with him over their summer vacation. The harried reporter's efforts to bond with his children go horribly awry, however, when the twins - Kevin and Sean - are abducted while on a weekend outing to a medieval festival. Predictably, Alex finds himself to be the police's prime suspect. In fact, Alex is the only suspect. Once his innocence is established, the authorities are back at "square one." On the verge of mental and physical collapse, Alex decides to quit his job and devote all of his time, energy and resources to discovering the whereabouts of his sons.

Alex's training and background as an investigative reporter stand him in good stead as he begins his search. Turning first to the Internet he discovers a string of cases - one more grisly and horrific than the next - involving abducted twins. As his funds and patience begin to leak away, he becomes convinced that the perpetrator of those earlier crimes, an accomplished stage magician with ties to a voodoo priest and whose previous residence was a psychiatric facility, is also responsible for the disappearance of Kevin and Sean.

THE MURDER ARTIST is a big, sprawling thriller replete with atmosphere and local color. The novel is also built upon an intriguing and absolutely diabolical premise. Two problems emerge in the pages of this book, however. First, the plot is overly complex. The author, not to mention the reader, has to work way too hard to make all the necessary connections. And even when those connections have been made, the pieces don't always fit together neatly. Secondly, the character of Alex Callahan is not entirely sympathetic. He comes across as shallow and selfish. Despite the fact that he moves heaven and earth to find his sons, and is thus redeemed somewhat in the eyes of the reader, it is nevertheless still difficult to summon up much genuine concern about Alex's fate.

The bottom line here is that THE MURDER ARTIST is an interesting novel with much to recommend it. It is a book that, as far as it goes, will capture your attention and, at times, have you gripping the edge of your seat. Be that as it may, this is not the kind of book you will want to buy in hardcover; read it by all means, but borrow it from your local library ... or wait till it comes out in paperback instead. (James Clar - MYSTERY NEWS)

International TV news correspondent, Alex Callahan covers all the hot spots around the world becoming immune to cruelty, abuse, and death. His biggest fear is not getting killed, but that his twin six year old sons will not know him as he struggles to see them periodically. That is why Alex enjoys his time with them as they wander a Virginia medieval fair.

However, the quality time together ends when he receives the phone call with the voice of a frightened tentative child crying out "Daddy." The police investigation goes nowhere so Alex employs his investigative reporter skills in cesspools to make inquiries. He finds a pattern that a voodoo crazed individual dubbed The Piper has been abducting and killing twins for years as part of a quest to fulfill a dark dream. Alex's only hope is to find a voodoo master hidden away in the backwaters of Bayou country. If he locates the master, Alex will pay a price to obtain help; the cost is being buried alive for a night by someone who might prove to be THE MURDER ARTIST or perhaps the twins' killer.

This is an exciting thriller that grips readers from the moment Alex receives the devastating phone call. The story line never slows down as a desperate Alex, filled with guilt even before the abduction, is just about over the edge with a frantic need for penitence by saving his children and stopping the monstrous Piper. Fans will be stunned by the level of tension that grows to an unbelievable crescendo in what is going to be recognized as one of the best thrillers of the year.

Harriet Klausner

This one kept me awake on a dark and stormy night, about 10 hours until I finished it. Maybe it's because I was avoiding writing a paper at the time, but there are very few thrillers I find literally unputdownable.

I didn't care too much about most of the characters, but the villian was fascinating enough to make up for them all. The voodoo business, the bit by bit uncovering of his past... all creepy as hell. So much so that meeting him in the end was a little anticlimactic, but the book as a whole is still very much worth the read.

I would give it 4.5 stars if possible, since it's no great literary masterpiece, but as cheap thrills go it's one of the best I've encountered in a while.

The first-person narrative Case uses speeds the tale along, as we are brought into the mind of a frantic father looking for his kidnapped identical twins. The slim clues that exist have the main character traipsing across America, looking into every kidnapping incident in which identical twins were abducted. Does he find any similarities where previous investigators have failed? If you have to ask you've probably never read a thriller before. A good read, but with an ending that could have been more detailed.

This book is similar to 24 by Greg Iles, and other books due to the nature of the theme, so if you've enjoyed other books with parents searching for their seemingly gone-forever children chances are good that you'll enjoy this one as well.

John Case has done a fine job in this latest emotional thriller about a man's relentless pursuit for his abducted children.
He'll keep you guessing as the father persues clue after clue taking him from N'Orleans to Vegas to California and points in between. Along the way you'll be educated on things like Voodoo practices and some history about magic and its relation to religion and the supernatural. Small problem with the ending but overall a fine effort.

Highly recommended.

Workaholic Washington DC based Alex Callahan has been-there, done-that in most of the major trouble spots of the world. Obsessed by the demands of his high-pressure career as an investigative TV journalist, he's relegated his wife Liz and six-year-old twin sons, Sean and Kevin, to a distant second place on his priority scale until Liz decides that she's no longer willing to accept whatever crumbs of time and affection he has to offer. Taking the children with her, she accepts a job at a museum in Portland, Maine, and leaves Alex to discover just how empty and meaningless his life becomes without them. Desperate to make amends, Alex is willing to agree to anything she proposes that might help mend the rift: specifically, a month's trial visit from Sean and Kevin and full-time, single parenthood 24/7. One of the first lessons he has to learn is that you don't break a promise to your kids. When the boys set their hearts on attending a Renaissance Faire being held in nearby Maryland, Alex quickly agrees and then, reluctantly, is forced to stick to his word. Caught up in the spirit of the Faire, he bows to their pleading and lets the boys head for the jousting ring which takes them briefly out of his sight. In that tiny instant...they disappear, and Alex, for the first time, realizes the full weight of what it means to be a parent. Concern turns to fear turns to increasing terror as his frantic personal search becomes a police dragnet which still yields no sign of his boys. Then his cellular rings...a trembling voice from his home phone cries "Daddy"...and after it's abruptly silenced, the full horror of the situation crashes down on him. Now he and Liz become enmeshed in the media circus he knows so well from the other side of the camera, but, as time goes by with no demand for ransom or other contact, the officials reluctantly back-burner their search and Alex is left to go it alone. Now 24/7 takes on a different meaning for him. Using his job-honed research skills, he starts with a tiny clue left behind in his home for whatever reason by the kidnapper and hits the Internet for answers. A nebulous pattern begins to emerge which necessitates an increasingly far-ranging personal search that takes him from the neon wilderness of Las Vegas to the back country and swamps of Louisiana to the decadence of Northern California. When he finally understands WHY they were taken...HOW to find and rescue his boys becomes his and the reader's imperative. That's the point where this breathtakingly superb thriller quite literally becomes un-put-downable.

In his previous novels, John Case has primarily focused his attention on global issues, so this highly-personalized, domestic thriller is a stunning change of pace for him, highlighted and intensified by his use of a first-person narrator. Roughly the first hundred pages of the book explore the mindset of an abductee's parents in some depth and establish Alex as a completely sympathetic and wholly believable protagonist...essential given the trials and terrors that he's subsequently called upon to face and overcome...whom Case then surrounds with a fascinatingly diverse and equally well-realized cast of supporting characters. Fictional Alex uses research as a tool to provide him with the answers he so desperately seeks and dearly wants. John Case's obviously thorough research into the real worlds of Ren Faires, professional magic and voodoo provides his readers with an intensely interesting and beautifully-detailed background for the story he has to tell. This may well be his strongest and best novel to date, and I can't help thinking how well it would translate into a genuine blockbuster of a movie.