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Books Birds of Prey by Lawrence Kinsman The Abelard Press ANNOUNCES A new Sylvie Kaplan DETECTIVE-THRILLER About
the author
Birds of Prey was superbly edited by Lisa Veilleux of Bow, NH, and typeset by Hobblebush Books. Comments from an "Average Reader" "I could not put down Lawrence Kinsman's new crime novel Birds of Prey - not to answer the phone, not to run errands, not to hold a shelf while my husband nailed it securely into place - not even to make lunch. Mr. Kinsman's writing is smooth and fast moving, often funny and charming and shockingly insightful. His cop characters are likeable. But make no mistake, this book can be every bit as gruesome and intense as Patricia Cornwell at her bloodiest. The plot twists come fast and hit hard. Kinsman has all his police and forensics stuff down cold, but what makes his novel such a standout is his heroine, Boston Homicide Detective Sylvie Kaplan. She is far more human and appealing and therefore more interesting than Cornwell's oh-so-perfect Kay Scarpetta. Kaplan is not predictable. Kaplan makes mistakes and occasionally utters a four-letter word. Actually, like any tough cop, she uses profanity quite often. She screams like a madwoman at her departing fiancé, as he is packing up to leave her and the thirteen-month-old baby they recently adopted together. Sylvie Kaplan is completely, messily human. In other words, this is not just a crime novel; it's a real novel-novel. A recent rave review in the PORTSMOUTH NEW HAMPSHIRE HERALD - the article that tipped me off to the book's existence - announced that Birds of Prey is to be the first novel in a long series. I'm not sure I can wait for the next one!" - Deborah Letourneau, Dover, New Hampshire Comments from the "Experts" "Lawrence Kinsman's Birds of Prey has it all - sex love, betrayal, murder, money, guns, and Byzantine intrigue - all our favorites - wondrously mixed with ethnicity, gender issues, the class war, and a beautiful woman detective who spits one liners like George Carlin. An irresistible read." - Eugene K. Garber, author of The Historian "Birds of Prey is a brilliantly and tightly plotted contemporary American crime novel, a superb page turner. Detective Sylvie Kaplan is, by the way, more than likely to blow Kay Scarpetta clean out of the water." - Robert J. Begiebing, author of The Strange Death of Mistress Coffin "Bird of Prey's dual story lines - one concerning high-tech international weapons trafficking and the other a series of brutal murders of lesbian couples - propel this volatile narrative like twin NASA booster rockets. The two crime lines run their parallel courses, finally intersecting to give us a stunning vision of the Janus face of evil in all its hideousness and banality. Even more compelling than the ongoing bloodbath, however, is the novel's extraordinary heroine, Boston Homicide Detective Sylvie Kaplan. She is brilliant, beautiful, bisexual, and a single mother. And like all literary detectives, she swears her allegiance to law and order while fearing that her daily efforts to keep chaos at bay are no more than a punishing exercise in futility. Setting aside her existential terrors hour by hour, she pushes on, dealing with an abruptly departing fiancé, poopy diapers, a bossy bourgeois mother, media harassment, a rather slow-witted captain, and a small army of professional killers. The peculiar limits of the detective genre do not prevent this writer from developing characters of genuine complexity and depth. In fact, Kinsman's rich characterizations and keen observation of significant physical detail nearly bring the detective novel into the realm of literary fiction." - Edmund White, author of The Married Man | |
In
Birds of Prey Lawrence Kinsman has written a serious detective novel that is entirely
satisfying. The author serves up the workings of a vast international crime network,
computer hacking at all levels, several sudden and bloody assassinations, the
freakishly focused misdeeds of a serial killer (or killers) motivated by religious-sexual
mania--and a thousand terrifying questions. Boston Homicide Detective Sylvie Kaplan
and her partner Dennis Shaw find themselves investigating the murder of a former
fashion model who is somehow connected to the assistant secretary of defense.
A box of computer disks showing elaborate weapons schematics arrives mysteriously
by U.S. mail, addressed to the murdered girl. The disks then lead Kaplan and Shaw
to Voltran, a local defense contractor allegedly putting the finishing touches
on an advanced missile guidance system called Falcon, soon to be delivered to
the U.S. Air Force. Why, the two detectives wonder, are Voltran employees who
know anything about Falcon dropping like flies? As this story of industrial espionage
unfolds, a much darker crime spree overtakes the City of Boston: someone is abducting
and murdering lesbian couples in grotesque parodies of Christian religious rituals.
Bostonians find themselves harried by daily snowstorms and the far heavier burden
of nameless, faceless terror. |
Some of our favorite New Hampshire writers from outside our catalogue.
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