NEMESIS: The Final Case of Eliot Ness
William Bernhardt
Ballantine Books
Suspense
ISBN: 9780345487582
In 1935, Prohibition may have been over, but there was still some cleanup work to do, and still a lot of illegal booze that made its way into illegal houses of gambling. Riding high on his success at putting mobster Al Capone behind bars, Eliot Ness was assigned a new position --- that of alcohol tax agent in the "Moonshine Mountains" of Ohio. He and his wife moved to Cleveland, where newly-elected Mayor Harold Burton soon recognized the benefits of appointing Ness his Director of Safety to aid in keeping his campaign promises as a Reform Party candidate. Ness enthusiastically jumped in to take care of the traffic woes and police corruption that were nearly paralyzing Cleveland. With his baby face and his Boy Scout manner, he presented the perfect image to the public. Besides, everybody knew his name and his reputation as a true American hero.
But while Ness was attempting to solve the mayor’s problems, a vicious serial killer had started on a spree. Dubbed “The Torso Killer” for his gruesome dismemberments, he left a bloody trail of bodies in his wake. He seemed to be taunting the authorities, and especially Ness, as he dumped torsos and heads of victims in areas that would ensure they would be found quickly. It looked as though Ness had met his match.
Battling this serial killer, the corruption in the police department, the hangover from Prohibition, the miseries of the Depression, a city’s desperate need for modernization and a lonely wife threatening to leave him, Ness had his hands over full. His boyish optimism could carry him only so far. To make matters worse, the Torso Murderer, also known as the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run, had hit too close to home when he sent postcards to Ness. They contained jeering remarks, a sort of written form of thumbing his nose. But when Ness realized that the latest postcard did not come through the mail but was hand delivered, he snapped. The man murdering people already down on their luck had just sent Ness a personal message.
As Director of Safety, Ness thought his job was to reduce traffic accidents, stop illegal sales of booze and put a halt to gambling. He didn’t want any involvement in the sensational murder case --- that is, until it touched a raw nerve. And once assigned to him, he launched himself into it as doggedly as he pursued Capone. But the Torso Murderer turned out to be Ness’s true nemesis. Officially, the case was never solved. But unofficially?
Just how much of William Bernhardt’s novel is made up? We may never know, for it has an excellent basis in fact and much of the speculation has its roots in truth. He presents a persuasive case for the probable identity of the killer. So what kept Ness from bringing him in? The torso murder case had to have frustrated him to the end of his days.
William Bernhardt has a winning combination in NEMESIS. He has pitted America’s first real-life serial killer against one of America’s favorite heroes. Claiming at least a dozen victims, the Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run terrorized the citizens of Cleveland at a time when many were already beleaguered by the Depression. Full of great period detail, right down to the nuances of the time and the place, NEMESIS is a compelling page-turner.
--- Reviewed by Kate Ayers
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