BLOOD RIVER

In 1999, everyone in Brisbane is on edge because a serial killer is on the loose. But when a teenage girl is arrested and found guilty, two cops are uneasy—could a young girl be capable of such savagery?

Fast-forward 20 years. Jan White, the teen who was found guilty, has finally been granted parole, but she isn’t finding life outside prison easy or welcoming. The two cops who investigated her case have changed, too. Once-young Detective Constable Lara Ocean is now a Police Commissioner; her gruff, street-wise older partner, Billy Waterson, has retired. When new events force them to reanalyze the case, they have no idea where the trail will lead. Cavanaugh tells the story from various viewpoints, but he changes voices with such frequency and muddled clarity that the reader is often confused. Even those details that are compelling—the history of Detective Constable Ocean’s early life, for example—are dragged out in too many sketches. Further dampening the reading pleasure is the author’s overuse of weather description and overly cute chapter headings, including “It Bit Me Back” and “It's Not Like We Meant It.”

There's a good story here, but it’s buried by flashy prose and a meandering plot.