In his new Mick Callahan Novel, Harry Shannon, has Mick retired from the limelight of being a well known television psychologist, working now in private practice, doing his best to get his life together. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that this would make a pretty dull story, but what happens to catapult our hero into action and call in every favor owed and more in hunting down a seemingly untouchable professional killer will rock his world and shock the reader.
It's one of those situations where you know something is going to happen, yet when it does it just about knocks you out of your reading chair.
Much like in the Sheriff Penny Miller zombie series, The Hungry, Harry Shannon imbues his characters with snappy dialogue and sharp attitudes. All of the characters in The Devil In the Clock are richly realized, none more so than Big Mike...
"Despite his fairly recent arrival in the city, the stories about Big Mike were already legendary. He had many enemies and a flair for the melodramatic when dispatching them. There was one story about severed heads used as bowling pins. The driver thought that one ridiculous, but the image was certainly chilling, and Uncle Lev had sworn he'd seen some cell phone video of Mike throwing a gutter ball."
Even when not immersed in non-stop action, Shannon has a way with words...
"A trio of teenaged girls appeared and stood to his right. The excited kids whirled in a chattering circle like a colorful ball of electrical energy, popping gum and competing to see who could use the word "like" the mot times." and later..."The giddy teenagers drifted away, like really babbling like happily like it was awesome."
The Devil In the Clock is told with lots of detail and very vivid images, as a result this one doesn't read like a story, it reads true, if you know what I mean.
I must admit, I had not read any of the previous Mick Callahan Novels. I picked this up because of how much I've enjoyed the author's zombie series, The Hungry, and I though it would be interesting to see what he would do in another genre. The result is satisfying, but I suspect it would be even more so if I had read the prior books. I'll have to go back and correct that one of these days.
The Devil In the Clock is available now in print and soon as an e-book through Amazon.com.
Recommended.
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