BONE MACHINE
by Martyn Waites
Joe Donovan is back on the murder beat, but now the investigative work is different.
Though he’s no longer a Newcastle newspaperman, Joe is still chasing stories. Now he bills himself as an “information broker,” and anything involving murder is agreeable, especially if Joe can charge enough to bolster the bank account of Albion, his fledgling business. So when high-profile, deep-pocketed solicitor Janine Stewart asks him to verify the alibi of her client Michael Nell, whom the police have detained to help with their inquiries, Donovan signs on eagerly. A rich man’s son with the appetites of a sociopath, surly, uncooperative Michael has become the prime suspect in the grisly murder of his girlfriend. Because Michael perversely insists on behaving as if he’s auditioning for the role of serial killer, the Albions have their work cut out for them. Donovan pursues the investigation while maintaining his intense interest in the sudden, sickening disappearance of his six-year-old son three years ago: a case that’s forever ongoing.
Your basic by-the-numbers job, this seventh from British author Waites (The Mercy Seat, 2006, etc.) contains nothing to hate, nothing to alert a pal about.