Just when one thinks that there cannot possibly be a new configuration of the thriller genre, along comes Robert Pobi and CITY OF WINDOWS. Pobi, a journeyman author whose previous efforts have been underappreciated, introduces a protagonist who is as mesmerizing as he is unique.

The book begins with a memorable --- make that never to be forgotten --- vignette that haunts the reader throughout the entire story. The setting is New York City, in the middle of a blizzard less than a week before Christmas. An FBI agent in an SUV is murdered by an all-but-impossible sniper shot. Brett Kehoe, the prickly agent in charge of the investigation, attempts to bring former FBI agent Lucas Page back into the fold to assist. Page, who is retired, married, a father and gainfully employed as a college professor, wants no part of Kehoe or the FBI, having been extremely happy to leave the Bureau and its internal politics in the rearview mirror after an incident that left him still functional but forever maimed. What ultimately draws him in is that the victim in this case is his former FBI partner.

"[T]he book is perfectly and exquisitely paced and plotted. Pobi is merciless. There is simply no good place to stop reading and catch a breath."

Page has the unique ability to read a crime scene and an uncanny talent for mentally figuring out angles and trajectories. It is the latter that is especially needed here, given that the FBI has no clue as to where the sniper was located, let alone how the shot was carried out. Page calculates the spot in short order, but the investigation is still left floundering, given that there is no evidence left behind. Things go from very, very bad to worse when it becomes clear that the assassination is merely the first in a series of seemingly unconnected killings carried out by a shooter who is capable of making impossible shots that can be neither predicted nor, apparently, prevented.

Page brings his multifaceted skill set into the investigation and eventually establishes a motive for the killings, drawing ever closer to the sniper, who in turn targets his family while saving him for last. As the novel races toward a confrontation and conclusion, it is all but impossible to accurately predict what will occur. After all, we all can’t be Lucas Page.

CITY OF WINDOWS is populated by interesting and complex characters, some of whom nicely counterbalance the brilliant, quirky and occasionally irritating Page, who intermittently demonstrates (without meaning to do so) that while the science of mathematics does not lie, statistics certainly can. That said, the book is perfectly and exquisitely paced and plotted. Pobi is merciless. There is simply no good place to stop reading and catch a breath. The quality of plot and characterization is on a level similar to that of Jeffery Deaver, and if you are familiar with Lincoln Rhyme, you know what a compliment that is. Pobi also brings a cinematic viewpoint to the page that causes his story to unreel --- can we use that term anymore? Or should I say stream? --- through the mind in a wonderfully seamless fashion.

You will want more, and soon. In the meantime, obtain and read Pobi’s previous works, each of which is more than worthwhile.