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It happens. You start a book with high expectations for whatever reason --- the inside cover summary, a friend's recommendation or, heaven forbid, some nebbish reviewer --- and you're disappointed. The converse also happens, however. You're not expecting much when you crack the binding on the book and the next thing you know you're halfway through the story before you even think about putting it down --- kind of like being abducted by aliens, without the probes, if you will.
That's the sort of out-of-body experience I encountered when I picked up NINE by Jan Burke. I wasn't really familiar with Burke's previous work, more by accident than by design, so I approached NINE with a tabula rosa impression, an impression that is now indelibly etched into my memory. NINE is as complex and gripping a thriller as you may well read this year.
The premise of NINE revolves around an unknown perpetrator or perpetrators who are dramatically and theatrically murdering the individuals listed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List. The first, a drug kingpin who executed a potential witness against him, along with the witness's family, is strung up and left to die with his lifeblood draining from him. The mourners who attended this gentleman's demise could be counted on the end of one stump. The unknown individual who hastened his journey to the other side of the veil is quickly heralded as a hero. As the remaining individuals on the FBI's list are dispatched with efficient and creative rapidity, the public is enthralled. Detective Alex Brandon of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is not among the cheerleaders, however. The executions bear an eerie resemblance to the murders carried out by a serial killer, now deceased, some ten years previous; they appear to be done for the purpose of carrying out a taunting message to Brandon. As his investigation continues, Brandon becomes more and more certain that The Executioners, as the media has dubbed them, are actually targeting him. Burke almost loses her way at the end --- the ending almost seems a bit contrived --- but she ultimately manages to pull things off, coming back in a satisfying epilogue to tidy things up quite neatly and satisfactorily.
NINE will introduce Burke fans to a whole new cast of characters. While the main focus of the book is Detective Brandon, the supporting characters are so interesting that they ultimately come close to high-jacking the book away from him. While NINE functions quite nicely as a stand-alone, independent work, it would seem a shame for Burke not to utilize Brandon and his supporting cast of characters in future novels. Whatever Burke might choose to do, however, NINE will undoubtedly bring a legion of new readers to her work.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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