10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Philpin tops my list!, May 19, 2001
This review is from: The Murder Channel (Mass Market Paperback)
First there was John Wolf ("The Prettiest Feathers," and "Tunnel of Night"), then Lily Dorman ("Dreams in the Key of Blue"), and now Felix Zrbny lights up "The Murder Channel." Philpin's villains are complex and intriguing, and his anti-hero, Dr. Lucas Frank, is a crafty, crusty, impatient genius at solving crime. In this book, Lucas grumps about police logs, takes time out to eat his favorite German food, gets a gun shoved in his face by a darling senior citizen, and wonders whether we have more murders or just better TV coverage. Interestingly Felix Zrbny wonders about many of the same things Lucas does. I knew Philpin bases most of his stories on real events and I searched for something similar to this one but had no luck. It's another treat anyway. Can't wait for the next one.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unfinished Business, August 6, 2001
This review is from: The Murder Channel (Mass Market Paperback)
Fifteen years ago teenager Felix Zrbny finished his paper route, picked up a knife and slaughtered three woman in his neighborhood. Since that time he has been institutionalized. On the way to a hearing for his release, Felix is accidentally allowed to escape. Now he is loose in the streets of Boston, getting ready to take up where he left off. Lucas Frank, a retired forensic psychiatrist, was brought in to testify at the hearing, and now finds himself drawn into the search for Felix by his old friend Ray Bolton. In the meantime Zrbny is hiding under the cover of a record snowstorm that has blanketed Boston.
Frank and Bolton quickly discover that there are other forces at work, that other agendas are interfering with their manhunt. Wendy Pouldice, owner of Boston Trial Television has kept in touch with Felix since his sister was kidnapped, two years before his first murder spree. BTT cameras seem to appear wherever Felix is. Is Wendy using her connection with Felix to increase her station's marketshare? Dermott Fremont is head of Vigil a militia group that seems to have it's own plan for Felix. They too seem to show up everywhere, usually with bloody results. Neville Waycross has become a street monk after Felix killed his wife. He joins in the hunt, but his motivation is unclear.
Philpin chooses to alternate narration between Frank and Zrbny. Normally I don't like dual narration, but both characters are so interesting that this device works perfectly. Frank, after too many rough cases in Boston, has retired to Northern Michigan, where he relishes the quiet and the isolation. Frank is not a classic courtroom psychiatrist. Instead he is every bit as involved as any other investigator. Frank, bluffs, bullies, shoots, and finesses his way to the facts that will help him to get inside Zrbny's head.
And Zrbny's head turns out to be a very interesting place! As the story gradually fills in the blanks in his past, Zrbny become an almost sympathetic character. Of imposing size and intelligence, Felix displays both psychotic and sociopathic traits, making him and extremely dangerous killer. But he is aware of his psychological state and understands that he is using death as a way to manipulate symbols in the public eye. He is also capable of concern and conscience in his relationships. He has a sense of honor, and he is capable of remarkable insights into human behavior. I wouldn't call him sympathetic, but the reader will feel an attraction to him.
The drama builds in unexpected fashion to a truly surprising conclusion. Philpin displays fine writing skills, knowing just when to describe, when to build character, and when to move the plot forward. This is the fourth Lucas Frank novel Philpin has written or collaborated on, and I fully intend to read the others. If you are a fan of the serial killer genre put "The Murder Channel" on your must buy list.
Marc Ruby - for The Mystery Reader
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lucas Rides Again, June 25, 2001
This review is from: The Murder Channel (Mass Market Paperback)
Reluctant returning hero, Dr. Lucas Frank, is back in Boston to help his police pal in a case that is almost as embarrassing to the local government as it is terrifying to the populace. Due to a gigantic bureaucratic snafu, criminally insane Felix Zrbny just might walk out of the courtroom a free man after being institutionalized for 15 years. He brutally murdered three women in his 15th year for reasons he has never divulged and claims he was "interrupted before his work was complete."
The action is fast and furious set during the worst snowstorm of the century. The flashbacks are many but work well in the context of the story. There are long sections told first-person by the deranged Felix, which are amazing because he doesn't seem amazing, merely logical. Dr. Frank is a colorful protagonist, retired, crusty, irritable and a technophobe of the first order. (He even hates to use a telephone.) The pace never lets up and some of the scenes are grim. It is cleverly plotted, but Dr. Philpen still has a tendency to telegraph his surprises.
This is a fine addition to the Lucas Frank series, not as strong as "Dream in a Key of Blue," but nevertheless absorbing and well worth reading.
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