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Don’t Look Twice

Review

Don’t Look Twice

Andrew Gross’s new novel features the welcome return of
Greenwich, CT Police Lieutenant Ty Hauck. Introduced in
2008’s THE DARK TIDE, Hauck is a driven and troubled cop
whose personal life all too often intersects and interferes with
his professional life. The book begins --- and ends --- with a case
that cuts a wide swath through Hauck’s family in ways he
never could have predicted.

DON’T LOOK TWICE finds Hauck somewhat predictably at loose
ends. It all begins with a simple trip for him and his teenage
daughter to a gas station convenience store. They narrowly escape a
gangland-style execution that takes the life of a man standing in
line behind them. Hauck wonders if he himself was the target, until
he learns that the victim was David Sanger, a federal prosecutor.
His investigation would seem to be over when the shooter himself is
subsequently murdered.

Yet Hauck is troubled by the motive behind the hit, and despite
being warned off by several people, including the chief of police,
he continues to dig into Sanger’s life. His pursuit of the
truth leads to an upstate gambling casino where Sanger apparently
was a frequent and quite successful visitor. The casino, though, is
only one element of a plot that uncovers corruption at the local,
state and national level and that also appears to lead to
Hauck’s brother, a successful attorney who has long-buried
ties to the casino as well.

At the same time Hauck is slowly becoming involved with Annie
Fletcher, a local restaurateur who inadvertently witnessed the
disposal of the murder weapon involved in the Sanger killing and
who is seeking police protection. The relationship with Karen
Friedman, which seemed so promising at the end of THE DARK TIDE, is
floundering, so that the possibility of new romance is one of the
few bright spots on Hauck’s horizons. When an attempt to take
him out of the investigation misfires with tragic results, however,
Hauck pursues a scorched earth drive to bring the murderers to
justice, no matter what degree of power they exercise.

Gross’s narrative pacing here is superb. In lesser hands
this story would be a complicated one, but he is careful to reveal
bits of the mystery and its resolution gradually so there’s
little chance of the reader losing the thread of what’s
occurring. Gross is also unafraid to tinker with his primary and
secondary characters, changing their circumstances or even taking
them off the board altogether to move his story along. As was the
case with its predecessor, DON’T LOOK TWICE promises to be a
fine spring break companion, one that is worthy of more than a
second look.

Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub on December 30, 2010

Don’t Look Twice
by Andrew Gross

  • Publication Date: April 1, 2010
  • Genres: Fiction, Thriller
  • Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
  • Publisher: Harper
  • ISBN-10: 0061143456
  • ISBN-13: 9780061143458