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Summary
Summary
A new stand-alone thriller by an acclaimed master of the genre and author of the Nameless Detective series.
Bill Pronzini is crime-writing royalty. His more than eighty published novels have won or been nominated for Edgar, Hammett, Anthony, Shamus, and Macavity awards--a clean sweep of the crime fiction award field--and received rave reviews from critics. He crafts masterful stories, often from multiple perspectives, in which the human condition is on full display.
The Violated is no exception. In Echo Park, in the small town of Santa Rita, California, the mutilated body of Martin Torrey is found by two passersby. A registered sex offender, Torrey has been a suspect in a string of recent rapes, and instant suspicion for his murder falls on the relatives and friends of the women attacked. Police chief Griffin Kells and detective Robert Ortiz are under increasing pressure from the public and from a mayor demanding results in a case that has no easy solution. Pronzini cleverly unfolds the case through alternating perspectives--Martin Torrey's wife, caught between her grief and the fear her husband was guilty; the outraged husbands of the women violated; the enterprising editor of the local paper; the mayor concerned most with his own ratings; the detectives, often spinning in circles--until a surprising break leads to a completely unexpected conclusion. The Violated is Bill Pronzini at the height of his storytelling powers.
Author Notes
Bill Pronzini was born in Petaluma, California on April 13, 1943. His first novel, The Stalker, was published in 1971. He is best known for his creation of the Nameless Detective Mystery series, as well as several westerns and novels of dark suspense. He has been a full time writer since 1969. He is also an active anthologist, having compiled more than 100 collections, most of which focus on mystery, western, and science fiction short stories.
He has won numerous awards including three Shamus Awards and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Private Eye Mystery Writers of America. His book Snowbound received the Grand Prix de la Litterature Policiere, as the best crime novel published in France in 1988. Pronzini has established himself as a master of the Western novel as well as earning a name for himself in the dark fiction genre.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In the prologue of this disappointing standalone from MWA Grand Master Pronzini (The Hidden), two Santa Rita, Calif., cops inspect the dead body of Martin Torrey lying on a grassy riverbank. Whoever shot Torrey in the groin may have done so as an act of vigilante justice, since Torrey was the prime suspect in a series of recent rapes in which the perpetrator always wore a condom. When Torrey, who had a history as a sex offender, moved from Ohio to Santa Rita, he failed to register with the authorities as required by law, but people soon learned about his past. That a case couldn't be built against Torrey furthered tensions between the town's self-centered and nakedly ambitious mayor, Hugh Delahunt, and police chief Griffin Kells, who landed his position despite Delahunt's support of another candidate for the job. The effort to identify Torrey's killer involves reinterviewing the rape victims, whose perspectives help humanize the novel. Unfortunately, Pronzini's choice to include the perspectives of other, often-inconsequential characters dilutes the emotional impact. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary Agency. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Will the execution-style murder of a suspected rapist heal the wounds in a California town or tear them open even further?Santa Rita Police Chief Griffin Kells has never had enough evidence to arrest Martin Torrey, a registered sex offender for peeping and masturbating back in Ohio, for a series of four assaults. Despite constant pressure from Mayor Hugh Delahunt, who didn't want Kells as chief in the first place, he hasn't been able to make a case against Torrey. Now he doesn't have to, because someone's shot his leading suspect three times, two of them in unmentionable places, in Echo Park. It would be nice to report that the killing brings closure to the rape victimsfitness instructor Sherry Wilder, housewife Ione Spivey, spinster schoolteacher Eileen Jordan, brew-pub waitress Courtney Reevesor the men who variously support them. It would also be a lie, since the women remain just as traumatized as ever (one of them will end up committing suicide), and after a break of only a few days, there's still another rape. This fifth attack, however, provides crucial evidence that eventually breaks the case wide open. The series of brief first-person accounts used to report the progress of the case and its many resonances throughout Santa Rita is the most impressive feature here, giving a truly prismatic view of many conflicts that have divided the troubled community; the pedestrian solution to the mystery is the weakest. Prozini's stand-alones are frequently less formulaic and more sensitive than his trademark Nameless Detective franchise (Zigzag, 2016, etc.). This one doesn't scale the heights of his finest work, but fans won't feel let down either. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Once again Pronzini imposes his version of modernist style on conventional crime-story material, with character studies all but standing in for plot, and brings it off quite well. The dead body on the beach at the edge of the little California town turns out to be that of Martin Torrey, a registered sex offender suspected of vicious attacks on local women. The progress of the investigation is told in alternating points of view, giving everyone involved something to say. Torrey's widow thinks her husband's suspected murder may be for the best, while one victim's husband takes to swaggering about with a gun. Another victim kills herself. The mayor wonders what this will do to his career; the newspaper publisher is happy to use the case to skewer the gasbag mayor; and so on. Detective Robert Ortiz, the only one trying to solve the murder, keeps the whodunit plot alive by patiently interviewing and reinterviewing everyone until, finally, coincidence provides a break. This is a psychological novel dressed up in a thriller suit, which means the teeth are showing, and Pronzini's skill keeps things moving. Another satisfying tale from a crime master.--Crinklaw, Don Copyright 2016 Booklist
Library Journal Review
Santa Rita, CA, police chief Griffin Kells and detective Robert Ortiz suspect Martin Torrey, a registered sex offender, of raping several women. They are unable to arrest him owing to the lack of physical evidence and the victims' inability to confirm the identity of their attacker. However, when -Torrey's mutilated body is discovered by two passersby in Echo Park, there is increased pressure from the community and from the mayor for Kells to produce results immediately. -VERDICT In a change of pace from his "Nameless Detective" series, the Shamus Award-winning Pronzini delivers a masterly stand-alone novel. Readers of T. Jefferson Parker's crime novels will enjoy the way Pronzini cleverly unfolds the case through alternating perspectives. In addition, fans of David Joy's novels will appreciate the strong sense of place in Pronzini's depiction of Northern California. [See Prepub Alert, 10/3/16.]-Russell Michalak, -Goldey-Beacom Coll. Lib., Wilmington, DE © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.