Ask the Critic: Can you identify this book?

I couldn't... But maybe you can.

The main character is an L.A. detective (recently promoted, I believe), and the book starts quickly with him witnessing the murder of a criminal by his senior peers, iirc in a parking garage, and he is troubled by how to handle it. This is one plot, intertwined with that of a serial killer on the loose. I cannot recall how it all comes together, but basically the young detective winds up in a race to catch the serial killer before being killed or framed by his senior peer detectives, and also to catch the killer before the killer catches him. He tracks the killer to Europe, is helped by a detective over there (Russian I believe). Another sub-plot is this detective has an adult sister who had some trauma so he cares after her... and it turns out the killer is some sort of Duke or something who is about to marry her in Europe..and a big blazing shoot-out in a train garage was one scene. Also the end came together at a museum.

Sounds pretty silly the way I described it, but it actually was a pretty good read...kept me turning pages...

Any ideas?

Comments

[Guyot]

Isn't that this book?

[I.J.Parker]

Dear God! And both of these books got published and did well.
Why am I trying?

[David J. Montgomery]

Ha! That's what I was thinking.

[Ali]

Hmmm it sounds very much like

COLD, COLD HEART by James Elliot - recall it and enjoyed it immensly, even if its release caused Dennis Lehane some annoynace as Lehane'ssecond novel was also called Cold, Cold, Heart - so he had to retitle it DARKNESS TAKE MY HAND -

Here's more

http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Heart-James-Elliott/dp/0440218632

It is out of print

From Publishers Weekly
A former CIA agent and an NYPD officer must stop an ex-KGB officer turned killer who mutilates young women, leaving corpses made up of sewn-together body parts.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Although prohibited by its charter from operating domestically, the CIA is so desperate to catch a serial killer that it blackmails a judge to free a former agent convicted of lying to Congress. The agent, Mike Culley, is told only to locate a KGB defector who had once been his operative in Moscow and is now implicated in a massive counterfeiting scheme. Only when Culley hooks up with a journalist, herself a former decorated New York City cop, does he realize the truth about the defector he seeks. Convinced that if she can accompany Culley she will be led to the scoop of her career, Julie Hauser talks him into accepting an uneasy alliance. Such is the premise of this pseudonymous first novel. It is an exciting thriller that moves with such breakneck speed that the reader easily overlooks some of its implausibilities. A good bet to satisfy your thriller fans, and certain to be in demand.
--Charles Michaud, Turner Free Lib., Randolph, Mass.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

let me know if this is the book?

Ali

[Elaine Flinn]

I loved Ingrid's comment.

And Ali's internal encyclopedia.

[John Moran]

"The Exile" by Allan Folsom.

The Los Angeles Police Department's famed 5-2 squad boards a commuter train in an attempt to take a cold-blooded killer into custody. John Barron, the newest and youngest member of the elite LAPD unit, learns quickly that the 5-2 has their own deadly system of justice, and that even the slightest protest will result in his suffering the same swift fate. Thus begins a dark, explosive struggle between good and evil-pitting Barron's squad against an exceedingly imaginative and brutal killer. Suddenly the game widens when John flees to London with his sister, Rebecca, and they are thrown into a race against time.

[WhiteOut]

Ding Ding--

The Exile is correct! Thanks much for the quick responses!

[John Moran]

As for I.J.'s comment: Folsom's agent is Robert Gottlieb.

That's how it got published.

[David J. Montgomery]

Good find, John. Thanks!

(I'm sure the editor wanting the book had a little something to do with it as well. Gottlieb isn't that good of an agent.)

[John Moran]

No problem. Does this mean you'll be reviewing my debut novel, "The Benefactor," when it's published early next year? ;-)

[David J. Montgomery]

That depends... Is it any good?

[John Moran]

Not as good as "Counterstrike" undoubtedly is, but I think you'll enjoy it (how's that for sycophancy?)

[David J. Montgomery]

Ah damn, if it's worse than Counterstrike, there's no way in hell I'm reading it.

[Clea Simon]

ah, but does it have cats in it?

[I.J.Parker]

Well, if I take a couple of hundred steps away from this topic, it's funny.

You see what that means about readers, don't you? Thank God all of mine are highly educated people with taste and intellectual curiosity. :)

[Elaine Flinn]

Wait a minute here! What the hell? Counterstrike is terrific! The only flaw? No cats.

[David J. Montgomery]

I guess someone could kill a cat or something...

[Elaine Flinn]

Kill a cat?? You'd be on a longer lam than Rushdie!