Review by Booklist Review
On a wintry day, Minnesota ex-cop Rushmore McKenzie sees something no one should ever have to see: a woman is tossed from the back of a moving vehicle. She survives her extensive physical injuries but is apparently suffering from amnesia, unable to remember what happened to her or who she is. The cop investigating the incident, McKenzie's former partner, asks Rushmore to keep an eye on the woman and maybe help determine her identity. Housewright's prose style is reminiscent of Donald E. Westlake's: smoothly flowing, graceful, but never calling attention to itself. Rushmore is an amiable series lead, a genuinely nice guy who lucked into a lot of money he quit the St. Paul police department so he could collect on a private reward for nailing a crook and now spends his time as a freelance investigator. A strong addition to an always-reliable series, and a crime novel that will appeal both to readers looking for complex characters and satisfying style and to those interested mainly in story.--Pitt, David Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
At the outset of Housewright's arresting 12th McKenzie novel (after 2014's The Devil May Care), a guy in a pickup truck dumps a woman's bound body on a Twin Cities freeway in the midst of a snowstorm; ex-cop turned unlicensed PI Rushmore McKenzie just misses hitting the woman with his Audi. The 20ish woman is still alive and either has amnesia or is real good at faking it. As a favor to Bobby Dunston, a policeman friend of McKenzie's, McKenzie and girlfriend Nina agree to let "Unidentified Woman Number Fifteen" move in with them temporarily. When she disappears one day, McKenzie launches an investigation, seemingly in competition with the police's own. The plot and subplots involve so many characters it's hard to keep track of who's doing what to whom. But Housewright creates such pitch-perfect dialogue and gives such wry observations that you may forgive him this flaw. Agent: Alison Pickard, Alison J. Picard Agency. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
It's snowing in Minneapolis and Rushmore McKenzie, a St. Paul cop-turned-PI, is driving his brand-new Audi on the interstate highway. That's nothing new, except he causes a 37-car pileup to avoid hitting a woman dumped out of the pickup truck in front of him. After the injured victim, labeled "Unidentified Woman #15" by the police, is released from the hospital with no memory, Mac and his girlfriend, Nina, are asked by Mac's former partner to look after her. Mac's attempt to jog the woman's memories sends her on the run. As Mac tries to uncover her past and discover who wants her dead, lots of secrets are thawed out of the frozen Minnesota countryside. VERDICT Take a well-written noir and mix it with humor and readers will anticipate this 12th series outing (after The Devil May Care), especially if they appreciate mysteries with a strong sense of place and an appealing sleuth who is still figuring out what to do with himself after leaving the police force. A solid choice for fans of Steve Hamilton, Dennis Lehane, or James Lee Burke. [See Prepub Alert, 12/15/14; library marketing] © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Rushmore McKenzie's 15th case begins when he agrees to babysit a young woman he's saved from death and then goes downhill from there. Think the drivers who flank your own commute are rude? That's because you've never had a pickup truck cut you off on a snowy freeway, open its tailgate, and disgorge a female body directly in your path. McKenzie pulls over handily, saving the woman's life, though not averting a 37-car pileup that totals his Audi. As if in partial recompense, Cmdr. Bobby Dunston of the St. Paul Police Department asks McKenzie to shelter the amnesiac victim, Unidentified Woman #15, in the new condo he shares with restaurateur Nina Truhler and protect her from whomever failed to kill her the first time. It's an irresistible setup, and it produces some appealing low-level byplay between the knight errant (The Devil May Care, 2014, etc.) and the fair damsel before McKenzie drops a name that puts the wind up in his Jane Doe and she skedaddles. McKenzie goes after her, of course, and swiftly links her to a group of students who left bucolic Deer River for the Twin Cities and got themselves into some serious trouble. The trouble includes, in order of appearance, homicide, burglary, and unauthorized tag sales. The tag sales are a nice touch, and it's a treat to accompany McKenzie to the Mall of America, where he spends a day buying $24,000 worth of stuff he offers at half price to a pair of hapless fences whose luck is about to get worse. Even so, the first movement is by far the most interesting part of this otherwise routine tale. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
