Immoral
Brian Freeman (McArthur & Company)

Brian Freeman does some interesting things in his first novel: he sets up an intelligent, platonic dynamic between his lead male cop, Jonathan Stride, and Stride's partner, Maggie Bei; and, unusual for a detective novel, he allows the story to play out over the course of years. The case that introduces us to Stride, the disappearance of a teenage girl named Rachel, occurs more than a year after the disappearance of another teenager, Kerry McGrath. Stride has never forgotten that case, nor forgiven himself for not solving it. He approaches the disappearance of Rachel, a troubled girl no one was going to miss, least of all her mother and stepfather, as possibly being linked. Readers used to detective novels setting a brisk pace along a straight line from crime to investigation to solution may become frustrated with the story that Freeman weaves. They'll learn a lot more about Stride, a widower, and his rekindled love life than they may want to, for one thing. Over the years, Stride falls in love, gets married, falls out of love and falls in love again. There is a trial of a suspect in the middle of the book which solves nothing. But even frustrated readers should keep going. Freeman has packed the book with some pretty good red herrings, and keeps the tension level fairly high. The writing is good and the characters are interesting. - Kim Convert.