Victims [Hardcover]

Dorothy Uhnak (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The author of bestselling novels and the factual Policewoman, Uhnak presents another potentially popular crime story. The narrative, which recalls the case of Kitty Genovese, begins when neighbors do nothing to help Anna Grace as they see her fatally stabbed. Arriving at the murder site in Queens, beautiful, brainy detective Miranda Torres meets journalist Mike Stein, who views the case as his chance to make headlines by exposing the heartless onlookers. Stein and Torres become lovers when she is ordered by police brass to get involved with his investigation, which results in scorching articles about Anna's "second murderers." From this straightforward, titillating beginning, the plot segues into near-fantastical twists. The killing of two airline stewardesses, attacks on a woman who resembles the first victim and other elements are improbable at best. Stein goes along with a coverup by the police when developments cast doubt on the sensational reports that promise him fame and fortune. Only incorruptible Detective Torres keeps seeking truth, putting herself in a trap set by an untouchable crime kingpin. Although it strains belief, Uhnak's latest will probably appeal strongly to thriller fans. Literary Guild selection. March
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Random House Value Publishing; First Edition edition (December 9, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517662922
• ISBN-13: 978-0517662922
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,557,820 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Sequel?, May 29, 2010

By 

Oveda (CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Victims (Hardcover)

The way this book ended I was expecting to find a sequel. It is very diappointing if there is none. What was the point?!

3.0 out of 5 stars One of the most schizophrenic books I've ever read., January 9, 2010

By 

C. R. Phelps - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Victims: A Novel (Hardcover)

It shifts around like the author had a series of two or three shorter novellas and found a way to link them all into one story. These extreme twists left me feeling like I had started reading one book and ended up reading a completely different one. I'm all for twists, but this was like eating pudding and finding a layer of yogurt underneath.

Very little was resolved in this book. A murderer goes free, a drug kingpin and murderer never even comes close to being caught, an author and a senator are paid off to lie and no one ever finds out, and minor characters enter and leave the story seemingly at random.

1 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Stereotypes, April 8, 2004

By 

Kirie Pedersen "Kirie Pedersen" (Brinnon, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Victims (Paperback)

I'm not a regular reader of murder mysteries, so this review must be evaluated within that context. I picked up this novel because the plot appeared to be based on the Kitty Genovese case. As I was growing up, this case was often used to indicate urban lack of humanity. A fairly large group of urban dwellers ignored the pleas for help as a young woman was stabbed repeatedly and left to die.

The plot turns are skillfully managed, and the vast drug, murder, cover-up, and women-bashing (literally) conspiracies are not as fantastical as the review listed with this title in Amazon implies. We now know that cover-ups occur on a massive and international scale.

The characters are less clearly defined. The point of view changes erratically, beginning with that of the murdered woman as she is attacked, then moving between the point of view of a washed-out former Pulitzer prize winner who needs $100,000 to buy out one of his former wives on their co-owned beach house and thus needs a story, and that of a Latina policewoman who is (of course) shatteringly beautiful, brilliant, and ethical, as well as suavely sexual. We briefly enter the mind of the murdered woman's firefighter husband, but then never encounter him again, and oddly, throughout the novel, IDs of bodies occur in the most unlikely manner (he identifies her as she lies soaked in blood in the street, and he picks her up in his arms and says, "Oh Annie, what did they do to you?")

What ultimately disturbed me was the sub-text. The conspiracy plot was fine; what wasn't fine was that the Jewish characters in the book were schmucks, out to make a buck or to make themselves more than they were--and certainly lacking ethics. The Latina detective, Miranda, is appealing, and yet when her own life is being snuffed out by a skillful international kingpin of drugs and politics, she reflects on her gratitude to the nuns. Stein, the (Jewish) writer, lacks ethics. Miranda, the Catholic, rises above them all. The medical technicality on which Stein's lack of values rests seems thin, at best. Virtually everyone in the novel is unlikeable, even the one true hero, a child in the wheelchair with an (of course) genius IQ but no muscular control due to "MS and other complications."