Slow Fire [Hardcover]

Ken Mercer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 16, 2010

One morning, Will Magowan opens his mail and finds a mysterious job offer to become the police chief of Haydenville, a tiny town in rural Northern California.

Once a highly decorated LAPD narcotics detective, Will was terminated after a devastating personal tragedy drove him to become addicted to the heroin he was charged with keeping off the streets. Fresh out of rehab but jobless and estranged from his wife, Will now lives alone in an old Airstream trailer on the fringes of L.A.

Out of options, Will accepts the job. After moving to Haydenville, he discovers that the once postcard-perfect town is being corrupted by a criminal influence that threatens to destroy it.

Haydenville’s normally law-abiding citizens begin to erupt in acts of unspeakable violence. Pets are going missing at an alarming rate. Stately Victorian homes are falling into disrepair. 

With only a rookie officer at his disposal, Will risks everything in his quest to save Haydenville—entering a labyrinth of dark secrets that have remained buried for almost 40 years.

An emotionally complex and literate page-turner, Slow Fire marks the electrifying debut of a new series featuring Will Magowan.

 

 

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mercer shows promise, but succumbs to clichés and the implausible in his debut about a former LAPD narcotics detective trying to rebuild his life after being a heroin addict. Will Magowan's new job as police chief in the tiny rural California town of Haydenville is his chance to show that he's again ready for police work. Far from an idyllic town, Haydenville has a thriving meth industry that's made addicts of many residents. Nice place to live, if it wasn't for all the tweakers, thinks Will, who suspects convicted murderer turned famous author, Frank Carver, who often acts as the town's patron, is up to no good. Mercer explores with finesse Will's past, the loss of his son, and his desire to reconnect with his wife, Laurie, but he uses the mayor's threat to fire Will too often, and as the most casual viewer of police dramas knows, even a smalltown cop can't just shoot a criminal or have someone die on his watch and expect to be at work the next hour. Author tour. (Feb.)
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From Booklist

Will Magowan’s heroin addiction cost him his job as a narcotics detective with the LAPD, but he has a second chance when he’s offered the position of police chief in Haydenville, a tiny, bucolic town in the far northern reaches of California. Is it a blessing or curse? Haydenville is plagued by a growing methamphetamine problem, and local authorities and politicians seem unwilling to tackle the crisis head-on. (They just can’t believe the drug’s primary supplier is novelist Frank Carver, Haydenville’s most celebrated citizen.) Will and his neophyte sidekick, Thomas, are determined to bring Carver to justice, but the consequences prove dire. At the same time, Will must cope with a marriage ripped apart by the tragic death of his young son. Might the stress of his life and job prompt him to replay past sins? Vulnerable and deeply damaged Magowan makes for a compelling protagonist in this crisp, well-written debut, the first in a series. Mercer could make a good thing even better with a bit more suspense. --Allison Block

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (February 16, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 031255835X
• ISBN-13: 978-0312558352
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,359 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ken Mercer was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1962 and began writing professionally at the age of 17.

He has written for newspaper, magazine, radio, television and feature films. "Slow Fire" is his first novel.

He lives in California with his wife and daughter.

Learn more at kenmercer.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Death and Justice in the Woods, March 29, 2010

By 

Richard B. Schwartz (Columbia, Missouri USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slow Fire (Hardcover)

One of the mainstays of both western and detective fiction is the plot in which the big city detective (or loner on horseback) goes to a small town in the boonies, finds everything upside down and inside out, with the evil forces in charge and the law in tatters. Every Quinn Martin hero of the 60's and 70's has such an experience.

Parker's take on this was the creation of Jesse Stone, the alcoholic, ex-LAPD detective, his marriage broken, his life on the edge of the abyss, who turns bi-coastal and sets up shop in Paradise, MA. Now comes Ken Mercer, with his own twist on a story line that nearly always works like a bandit. Will Magowan has left LA and his job as a narcotics detective for a job as chief of Haydenville, a town in northern California in which every resident seems to be tweaking, scratching, itching and committing mayhem. Looming above them all is a one-shot wonder writer, with a nasty pair of twin boys and a past that includes serious time in stir.

Will figures him for the majordomo of meth, but with the whole town seemingly against him, including the smarmy mayor, the task of convicting him appears to be Sisyphean. Enter Will's wife Laurie, who offers soothing moments in a narrative of nearly unrelieved struggle and pain. Will's other support (a counterpart to Jesse Stone's Suitcase Simpson) is a young man named Thomas, who longs for a nickname and who desperately wants to be of help to his fragile chief. As the challenges increase, Will goes into the woods--that traditional locus of suffering and adventure--to stand up for justice and achieve a decent measure of personal redemption in the process.

This is a very strong narrative, with interesting characters, a fully-realized setting and a piledriver plot. It is an exceptional debut for the author, from whom we should all now expect a Will Magowan series. I certainly look forward to one. Highly recommended.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Slow Fire, February 18, 2010

By 

G. Galaich (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Slow Fire (Hardcover)

Just finished Slow Fire and found this first mystery by Ken Mercer completely engrossing. I don't know Mercer's background, but he seems to really know Northern California's meth culture well. My favorite mystery protagonists are Harry Bosch, Elvis Cole, Joe Pike, and Jack Reacher. Mercer's character Will Magowan has the new sensitivity of Pike and the intelligence of Reacher. I find it interesting as the father of young children to see both Mercer and Robert Crais depicting the vulnerability and potential emotional pain inherent in fatherhood. I hope Mercer brings this character back again and that we don't have too long a wait for the next book from this new and talented author.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A delightful debut. Promises to be a great series!, May 26, 2010

By 

Elizabeth A. White (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Slow Fire (Hardcover)

"Just a few hard knocks. That's what he'd kept telling himself, these past couple of years, but now he had to consider a more disturbing possibility. That perhaps the circumstances were not to be blamed, but only himself." - Will Magowan

Former LAPD narcotics detective Will Magowan has pretty much hit rock bottom. Having been fired because of the heroin addiction he picked up while working undercover, he's estranged from his wife and living in a beat up Airstream trailer at the opening of author Ken Mercer's debut novel, Slow Fire.

Still unemployed and trying to get his life together two years after his firing, Magowan's prospects for another job in law enforcement are looking rather grim. Until, that is, he gets an offer from the Mayor of Haydenville, California to become their Chief of Police. Located far upstate and deep inland in National Forest territory, the once idyllic town is suffocating under a growing methamphetamine problem, one so bad that the Mayor is willing to overlook Magowan's current baggage in favor of his past expertise.

Magowan accepts the position, and in relatively short order identifies the person he believes to be the source of the meth; Frank Carver, a man who served time in the 1970's after being convicted of the voluntary manslaughter of his wife. Unfortunately, Carver also wrote a bestselling book shortly after his release from prison which, in conjunction with his generous patronage of the town's library, makes him `hands off' as far as the Mayor is concerned.

It's not giving anything away to mention that Magowan identifies Carver as his main suspect (it happens early on), as Slow Fire is arguably more of a character study than it is a mystery in the strictest sense. It's Magowan's interactions with those around him - be it mentoring his earnest and painfully naïve young deputy, trying to reconnect with his estranged wife, playing politics with the Mayor, or butting heads with Carver - that truly fuel Slow Fire.

Carver, who presents an unnerving combination of brute force and intelligence for Magowan to square off against, is one of the more disturbing antagonists you'll find in current crime fiction. Magowan is such a wonderfully well-developed character, however, that he's more than up to the task. Mercer has, in fact, hit a stride with Magowan right out of the gate that many authors take two or three books into a series to find. Considering that Slow Fire is Mercer's debut, I can only image the heights he will be able to hit with Magowan as this series unfolds... and I greatly look forward to it.