THE GINGERBREAD MAN

By: J.A. Hitchcock
Date: Thursday, February 07, 2002

I was going to give this book an "A" (and an enthusiastic one) until I got towards the end of the book. Before I tell you why, let me go into what the book is about.

There is a serial killer on the loose in Syracuse, New York. This killer likes children, particularly little girls. Vince O'Mally, the detective in charge of the investigation, has made a promise to the mother of the two latest victims, a brother and sister, that he will find them and bring them home alive. Guess what? He breaks that promise and ends up finding the corpses in an abandoned house. While searching the house, he finds a book under the floorboards, THE GINGERBREAD MAN (no, not this book, the nursery rhyme). It's an old copy, dust-covered, from a library upstate. O'Mally bags it as evidence, but something about the book nags at him.

When he's thrown off the case and told to take a vacation (or be fired), he heads upstate to the town where the library book came from. He rents a cabin by the lake and begins making queries about the library book. He finds that the townspeople are just a tad suspicious of him, especially one woman who works for the police department who pretty much freaks out when her "schedule" is messed up. And O'Mally does a great job of messing it up.

Holly Newman is the woman and she harbors a dark secret. O'Mally tries to find out what it is, but no one in town will tell him, she won't tell him, and pretty soon it's driving him crazy because he finds himself attracted to Holly. When her secret is finally revealed, O'Mally connects the library book to his old case and knows he has to find the serial killer before he kills his newest victim, the daughter of Holly's next-door neighbor. Suspects include just about everyone in town, but O'Mally has his sights on an old movie star who appeared in horror movies (ala Vincent Price) and takes care of his mysterious niece, who seems to be hiding a dark secret as well.

Shayne is a wonderful writer. She knows her serial killers and notes she got a lot of help from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children out of D.C. Her research was well done, the characters were memorable and the story was great, right up to the finale...except for one part.

The whole book was suspenseful, scary, with hints at a romance between O'Mally and Holly, then all of a sudden she throws in a couple of paragraphs of the most lurid sex I've ever read. It was truly pornographic. That threw me off and is the reason I give this book a "B" - there was no need for this scene, it did not fit at all, and brought the caliber of the book way down. Shame on you, Shayne.

THE GINGERBREAD MAN

Grade: B

Author(s): Maggie Shayne

Publisher:  Jove

Price: $6.99