WHACK A MOLE: A John Ceepak Mystery
Chris Grabenstein
Carroll & Graf
Mystery
ISBN-10: 0786718188
ISBN 13: 9780786718184

WHACK A MOLE heralds the welcome return of Chris Grabenstein’s series featuring the pairing of narrator Danny Boyle, a rookie police officer in the beach town of Sea Haven, New Jersey, and John Ceepak, an older, more experienced cop. Boyle, on the cusp of adulthood, is the stereotypical newbie in thrall of Ceepak, the straight-arrow Iraq War veteran with a by-the-book code of honor and an encyclopedic range of knowledge. Readers of the previous novels may be somewhat surprised with the decidedly darker turn that WHACK A MOLE takes, making it much closer to SLAY RIDE --- Grabenstein’s stand-alone thriller of 2006 --- than to TILT-A-WHIRL or MAD MOUSE.

Things get rolling in WHACK A MOLE when Ceepak discovers an old class ring on the beach while treasure hunting. He identifies the rightful owner and reunites him with his ring. It turns out that the owner had given the ring to a young woman who subsequently vanished some 20 years before. Ceepak is intrigued and starts to quietly investigate the long-ago disappearance, with Boyle in tow and observing. It is not long before other objects --- grisly objects --- from the past begin to show up in highly unlikely places.

It becomes obvious to Ceepak and Boyle that years ago a serial murderer had operated, undetected, in Sea Haven and is now getting ready to end his hiatus. Grabenstein offers up a likely cast of suspects and potential victims, even as Ceepak and Boyle discover that some of their greatest obstacles to solving the case lie not from outside the police department but from within, as their investigation is hampered by professional jealousy and efforts to cover up what were apparently cold crimes in the interest of preserving the financial success of the current tourist season. Yet Ceepak and Boyle soon find that the mysterious killer is leaving them no choice, as he not only has picked his next target but also has selected someone close to one of the team.

Grabenstein has crafted a solid mystery here. The manner in which the killer taunts the police is very unique --- I will never be able to walk into a resort town gift shop again without thinking of this book --- and the identity of the murderer, while plausible, will keep you guessing. I was absolutely sure I had his identity pegged and nailed, but I was totally wrong. This series has already won an Anthony Award in the course of its short history; after reading WHACK A MOLE, it would seem that Grabenstein, who undoubtedly will receive additional accolades, may need to add a trophy room to his domicile if he has not done so already.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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