Customer Reviews

In the Wind

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This book should get an Edgar. Barbara Fister proves herself once again to be not just an skillful weaver of multiple strands of plot but also a novelist of extraordinary character-insight. Her people are real: complicated, flawed, injured, hopeless, loving, funny, petty, and noble, frequently in succession but always believably so, even down to little details, quirks, and reactions. Her main character Anni Koskinen, a resigned (more like "forced out") Chicago cop turned PI, is entirely different from Fister's previous sleuth Konstantin Slovo in her 2002 book _On Edge_; and Slovo was a real piece of work unto himself, well worth your acquaintance.

The plot, although quite intricate in involving a score of characters with distinctively different motivations, is coherent in a way that reads as organically developed rather than mechanically impelled; and it all culminates in a climax that, while stunning, is (in retrospect) well prepared for by earlier clues--which, of course, Koskinen picks up on while the rest of us are just swept along.

But it's not just the characters and the plot that work so well: it's also Fister's _writing_. She has a way of striking off deft descriptions that repeatedly make you want to write "Yes!" in the margin; here's just a very small sample:

"I knew him from working in Area 4. He was one of those guys with big feet who worked the phones and typed reports with two fingers, collected his paycheck, and counted the days to retirement, which would be spent in a rustic cabin in Wisconsin, where shellacked fish decorated knotty-pine walls."

"He was a weedy-looking guy, the kind you'd expect to get picked on in school, or made someone's punch the first day in the joint."

"It didn't help that she worked on the assumption that all cops were racist--though I had to admit there was some truth to that. You're sent out to look for trouble and, sure enough, you find it. You find it enough, you stop seeing kids horsing around and see gang members instead. You notice a young man driving a nice car and figure he bought it with drug money. You assume a woman with a pissed-off look on her face means it for you instead of for the driver of that bus she just missed. It's a form of racism that is an odorless, invisible gas that hangs in the air in cop shops. You don't even know it's there."

About a reporter: "He liked nothing better than rubbing elbows with detectives at a crime scene, carrying Vicks in his pocket to dab under his nose if the body was too ripe, going out for a drink with the guys afterward."

About a long-time friend's house: "her kitchen hadn't changed much. It still had the original chipped porcelain sink, the same massive old stove that leaned to one side and always made lopsided birthday cakes."

Okay, stop me before I quote again! The bottom line is, if you want a darn good read, a mystery that not only respects your intelligence but may even increase it, don't miss _In the Wind_.

Anni Koskinen had to blow the whistle on a fellow Chicago cop and it cost her her career. As she's in the process of hanging out her shingle as a private eye, she gets a call from the priest of her neighborhood church. A church worker needs a lift - could Anni oblige? She does only to discover that the woman she has aided is a 60s radical wanted by the FBI for the murder of an agent. To make matters worse the dead man is the father of Anni's mentor, the man who convinced her to become a cop in the first place. As Anni reviews that old investigation she notes things that just don't add up and she becomes convinced that the woman she helped was innocent of the murder. But as she tries to uncover the truth she runs afoul of the present polices of Homeland Security - and no one connected to her is safe from retribution.

This dynamic thriller will keep a reader locked to its pages as the author has a gift for creating real people facing modern dilemmas. The pacing of the plot is the imperative. One is so caught up in the story one scarcely has time to note that the author is touching on both the raw wounds of the past and the controversies of the present.

One of the shining aspects of this novel is the sensitive way the author treats the character of Martin, Anni's autistic older brother. Barbara Fister, in only her second mystery novel, has shown she can write a suspenseful thriller that leaves the reader thinking.

In This Wind works on multiple levels. As a straight up mystery, Fister gives us a fascinating cold case that is both a whodunnit and a whydunnit. On a psychological level it's also a study of people who live their beliefs and what happens when diametrically opposed beliefs clash. Lastly, on a political level, it demonstrates what happen (and has happened in the past) when security trumps freedom. As a bonus it gives us a set of the most rounded, developed characters I've read about in a long time. Love them or hate them, they are real.

Barbara Fister is a powerful emerging voice in the mystery genre. She is a rising star with her intriguing, fast-paced plots and her rich and fully developed characters. Her heroine is smart, strong, honest and tough, and she's not afraid of a fight.

Anni Koskinen is a cop's cop. She loves her job (it's the only one she ever wanted) and because of her pride in her profession and honesty she's been forced from the life she loves. After testifying against a fellow officer, she's forced out and into the big bad world of `what am I going to do and do I want to do it?'

Anni decides to use her talent and work as a private investigator. She receives a call from her priest. Anni is needed to help out a woman by the name of Rosa Saenz. Anni learns that Rosa is a former radical who is wanted by the FBI for a 30-year-old murder. To further complicate things, the murdered man is the father of Anni's mentor.

Annie reopens the old murder case in the attempt to clear the former radical's name. As she follows history, it becomes clear that the authorities have a great need to find Rosa guilty-not find the murderer. If Anni isn't careful, her digging into the past could mean her demise.

When you close the book, you'll want more of Barbara Fister's wonderful novels.

Armchair Interviews says: In the Wind is a thriller that will grab your attention and keep you turning the pages.

What I noticed first was the wonderful language:
"The grass here is brown and sparse. Broken roots reach like bony fingers through the newly dug earth and a cracked drain pipe drips rusty water. Two men unload the boxes and lower them in, nudging them close together to save space. Each box has a round brass tag nailed to one end - no names, just numbers."

Second, I was taken in by Anni Koskinen, the first-person narrator:
"From an early age, I had known exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I would join the police force and become a detective based at Area 4 headquarters, finding the bad guys, helping the victims. No one who died on the streets would be buried without a name or a story, not if I was working the case."

But reality is very different, and as Anni has problems with police brutality and dishonesty, she leaves the force to become a private investigator. In this excellent mystery, she wants to help a Catholic priest in Chicago by driving a woman to Minnesota. Afterwards it turns out she has helped a fugitive escape from the police. The members of the church regard her as a saint, others believe she killed an FBI agent back in the seventies.

It is not often that I fall for a series when I read the first volume, but in this case I was sold immediately. Anni is an intelligent detective with lots of integrity - besides she struck me as a woman I would like to have as a friend.

IN THE WIND addresses the twinning of the actions taken by the Federal government during the Vietnam War era and the ramifications of the Patriot Act. In both cases, the civil liberties of American citizens are threatened in the name of national security.

The two time periods are neatly drawn together in Barbara Fister's IN THE WIND, a term that describes those who disappear seemingly from one second to the next. Anni Koskinen always wanted to be a police officer. The two people in the world with whom she is closest are Jim and Nancy Tilquist who befriended her when she had no one else. Jim's job as an FBI agent had encouraged Anni to enter law enforcement. She succeeds, quickly becoming a detective, but loses it all when she testifys against a fellow police officer accused of brutality. Newly armed with a private investigator's license, Anni is contacted in the middle of the night by Father Sikora, pastor of St. Larry's parish, and deeply committed to those on the fringe of society. Father Sikora asks Anni to take Rosa Saenz out of town. Anni knows Rosa from St. Larry's outreach programs; Rosa was a dependable presence in the program to feed the homeless.

Anni stops at an ATM before she and Rosa head to Minnesota. Suddenly, Anni is accosted by two men and she fights using all the things she learned in the police academy. When she is subdued, she discovers that her attackers are FBI and Rosa has disappeared. The situation becomes complicated when Anni learns that Rosa is really Verna Basswood, wanted by the FBI for the murder of agent Arne Tilquist, Jim's father. Rosa insists that she did not take part in the killing, that she is being used to hide the identity of the real shooter.

The situation becomes truly complicated when Sophie, Jim and Nancy's daughter, decides to save Rosa from being arrested. Sophie is bi-polar and is entering a manic period when she takes part in hiding Rosa. Emotions in the Latino commuity become aroused when images of Rosa as Our Lady of Guadalupe begin appearing around the community. The situation becomes truly dangerous when a demonstration regarding Native American rights is held in the same place and on the anniversary of the anti-war demonstration that led to Arne Tilquist's death. When white supremacists try to capture the crowd for their cause, Anni becomes a target of one of its most dangerous members. Things go beyond the pale when Anni realizes that the police don't want Rosa's name cleared, that she is of better use as a scapegoat

IN THE WIND moves quickly. There is no confusion of time periods. The people are victims of actions taken, for some, more than a lifetime ago. The civil rights violations promulgated as required to protect the US from terrorism as allowed by the Patriot Act are not very different than those taken without benefit of law in the 60's and 70's when patriotism was defined by support for a war that could not be won. Forty years later we are in a war for no reason and "real Americans" are defined by their support of another war that can not be won.

I look forward to reading the next book in the series.

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