FalconClaw Säters opens outside of a mental hospital in Sweden and leaves the reader no doubt they’re in for a departure from Michael Cook’s previous books in the FalconClaw series. Cook’s first book, Old Man Winter was a cozy in all but the bookstore shelving-selection. The Sleep Room was a visceral, street-level police procedural, FalconClaw Säters is psychological thriller with grit and grisly detail.
It also delivers on the promise in Cooks’ previous books while ratcheting up the stakes right along with the body-count.
Shifting from Sweden, we land back in northern Philadelphia with detectives Penny and Frank. Now married, the 39th Precinct alums want nothing more than to put the Schuylkiller behind them. Still both struggle to recover from deep physical and psychological scars.
Then a real estate development intended to erase memories of murder and loss goes up in flames. Frank immediately suspects arson and much worse. But no one else is so certain. Then the bodies turn up. All-too soon an element of foreboding permeates our reunion with Frank and Penny.
As the killer circles ever closer to home, employing details and methods eerily familiar, the foreboding turns to dread. Penny and Frank race to put the pieces together amid their grief and loss. Indeed each victim is someone they know.
There are beats in FCS that remind me of George Pelecanos’ work, especially in the use of time and place within the fragmented story structure. Cook’s attention to characters and what moves them that makes FCS so much fun to read. He uses each character like a piece in a mosaic, each fragment a picture of the larger story.
It can be difficult to change writing gears. That’s why authors like Charlaine Harris may dabble in other genres (True Blood) but always come back to their home genre, (Aurora Teagarden mysteries). The skillset necessary to work within different genre norms and tone can be subtle but daunting. Don’t even get me started on headspace requirements.
But the tight-rope writing required for high-stakes thrillers is something that Cook does well. In previous reviews, I commented on the use of seeping cold that underscored Cook’s first FalconClaw book, Old Man Winter. In The Sleep Room it was the moldy smell of outdated squadrooms and wrung-out cars. But in FalconClaw Säters it is dread that underscores the tone of the story and the contemporary setting.
Our killer here, as in TSR, is out for revenge, not visceral thrills. In pursuit of his own twisted justice for generational scars, the killer is plotting and methodical. Which, of course, is even more frightening than the stark-raving mad psycho.
To the author’s credit, Cook never loses focus on the hunters. Our connection to Frank and Penny is what grips us around the throat. Our desire to see them survive, (truly, catching the bad guy was two books ago) the monster rampaging through their lives is what keeps us turning the page.
A note on tone. This in my review of The Sleep Room:
While the tone is different, the focus, and the killer are completely different, what Cook has retained is his sensibility for the reader. There is violence, (more so than in OMW) but this is no gore-fest. While there is coarse language, indeed, grown-up discussions, there is no explicit sexual scenes or any sexual violence.
Mostly, this still holds true. The violence here is more emotional than in previous books. But do note, this is not a cozy.
As with the previous work, FCS is fast. The 400-odd pages fly by. Philadelphia natives will delight at recognizing factual events and factual people that fill out this work of fiction. Ultimately, FalconClaw Säters is a fun read for a dark and stormy night. Check it out, here.
The photo at the top, FalconClaw Säters book cover is used for instructional/education purposes as covered by the Fair Use Doctrine.
