Shutter Man

Interestingly enough, the cover review by Tess Gerritsen (“relentlessly suspenseful”) is a little misleading in terms of how I would class a mystery as “suspenseful”.

After all, we know who the killer is in Shutter Man from the get-go.

That fact doesn’t make the narrative any less compelling, however – it’s actually crucial that we, as readers, get to know the murderer – aptly named “Billy the Wolf”, for the book to come to such a satisfying conclusion. The last few chapters really pack an emotional wallop. And Gerritsen is right about one thing – the book is relentless. Montanari grabs you by the throat immediately and doesn’t let go.

In Shutter Man, Montanari travels back and forth in time, through the rough and tumble world of “The Devil’s Pocket” (a neighborhood in Philadelphia ruled by criminals) in the 1940s and 1970s, to the present day, with detectives Byrne and Balzano. Balzano has become an ADA and gets the chance to begin working on a landmark case for the city – a chance to bring the Farren family to justice.

In Philly, the Farrens are notorious. Known for enacting swift and brutal retribution to anyone who crosses them, the family have left a litter of convictions, death and anguish in their wake, and they aren’t done yet. Billy the Wolf is actually Michael Farren, and he and his cousin Sean are criss-crossing Philadelphia, killing people in a seemingly random fashion. Byrne and Balzano know better.

But why is Billy the Wolf leaving pieces of bloody linen at the crime scenes? Who is the mysterious white-haired woman who sings to the victims before they die? Why can’t Billy recognize faces? And what really happened in Byrne’s past in that summer when innocence was lost?

As Byrne and Balzano get closer to the truth of Billy’s motivations, the novel becomes unputdownable. The writing is almost poetic in places – but still readable and entertaining, as it should be in a crime novel. Eerie, satisfying and complex, this is one mystery definitely worth reading. I’m looking forward to more from Montanari – his upcoming book The Doll Maker looks especially good.

Billy's a cold-blooded killer. He also has a neurological condition that makes him not recognize faces. His brother helps him find his victims and he carries pictures of them inside his jacket so he can check to see if they match. It helps if the brother puts them in the clothes they were wearing in the picture...

Mulholland Books and Net Galley allowed me to read this book for review (thank you). It will be published February 9th.

Mr. Montanri writes complex tales with a lot of characters in them. I enjoy reading them because I'm not sure what kind of story he is building and he always throws in complications on the cop's side, too.

The story is set on the wrong side of town, where the immigrants did what they could to make money. They stole what they couldn't afford. From that background, some turned out good and some turned out bad. The problems began when a young girl was killed. The boys accused a confused man of killing her. He denied it and ran. They chased him down and someone shot him. The man that died belonged to a family of killers. Without even knowing it, they have created a war.

When people start showing up dead, the cops get involved. The cop that was part of that group is on the case. The people have nothing in common that they can see, but they are shot, their faces are taken off and their birth certificates are stolen. No one knows why. As the cops put the case together, they have more victims. Clues finally start tying together. Once they know who the killer is, they have to find him.

This is a tense, suspenseful read with a twist at the end. There are a lot of surprises and no end of odd characters. This author keeps you reading.

This was a really entertaining read. I was not familiar with the series and will be looking for the rest of them. Characters were quite well-done and the plot was fascinating.

Seemingly random people are being killed. They are tied to a chair, duct taped, shot in the chest or the head, and then some of them have their faces removed. All are wearing a strange assortment of clothes and birth certificates are stolen.

Billy and Sean are twin brothers, member of a mafia-type crime family in Pennsylvania. Billy suffers from a rare disease that prevents him from seeing or remembering faces..not even his brother's.

Jessica Balzano is now an Assistant DA, after having served 10 years with Homicide, partnering with Kevin Byrne.
I have kept up with this series, always getting excited when a new one is due out. However, I was a little disappointed with this one. The 'sizzle' seemed to be missing. The first part of the book takes the reader back to when Byrne was a youngster on the streets of Pennsylvania and then, even earlier.

There seemed to be a disconnect, but the second half seemed to bloom. Yes! There was the Montanari I loved.

Jessica Balzano is trying a case against Billy's father for several crimes. Byrne is brought in to help with the investigation as they try to find what connects today's victims to Billy's father. It is now that all that information in the first half of the book starts to make sense. It's like playing Connect-The-Dots.

What started out as a bit boring for me turned into another very good addition to the existing series. The story line seems to be better when Byrne and Balzano work together ... they are much more interesting together rather than apart. They feed off each other and it's that interaction that I really enjoy.

Again, this one is fine as a stand alone, but I always recommend starting at the beginning.

My thanks to the author / Mulholland Books / NetGalley who furnished the digital copy in exchange for an honest, unbiased review.