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Synopsis:When a structure fire in an abandoned fruit stand in rural Lincoln County reveals the murdered body of a woman gone missing from Santa Fe years ago, Police Chief Kevin Kerney finds himself cooperating with his estranged son, a man he hardly knows, Deputy Sheriff Clayton Istee. While Kerney digs into the woman's past hoping to find clues that will lead to a credible suspect, Clayton must unravel two more homicides which seen on the surface totally unrelated. As Kerney chases down clues that raise questions about the legitimacy of a highly-regarded modeling and talent agency, Clayton works to discover the identity of a murder suspect alleged to have ties to prostitution and illegal gambling. Set against the backdrop of the high mountains of southern New Mexico where gambling is big business and private sexual encounters for VIPs can discreetly be arranged, Kerney and Clayton must go up against rich and politically powerful opponents who are willing to protect their reputations at all costs. |
"The Big Gamble" (2002)
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Kirkus:
When a fire reveals the body of a
woman who vanished from Santa Fe years ago,
Police Chief Kevin Kerney finds himself
cooperating with his estranged son, a man
he hardly knows. The Big Gamble
is a multilayered, adrenaline-pumped novel
of crime and punishment set against the
beauty and pristine majesty of one of our
countryUs most magnificent landscapes.
Updated
5.20.02
Booklist
Booklist
Santa
Fe police chief Kevin Kerney is a capable
administrator, but he yearns for investigative
action. He finds it when a fire in southern
New Mexico turns up a dead body from a decades-old
missing-person case on which Kerney had
been the lead detective. Picking up a cold
trail proves challenging enough on its own,
but matters are complicated when Kerney's
contact with the local police turns out
to be his estranged son. In this seventh
episode in the popular series, McGarrity
again mixes his hero's work and personal
lives superbly, capturing that unavoidable
push and pull that so defines our daily
routines. A former deputy sheriff for Santa
Fe County, McGarrity brings remarkable verisimilitude
to his re-creation of police procedures.
In fact, this series has come to have an
almost-documentary feel to it, something
like the television series Cops.
Longtime fans may miss a certain grandeur
present in the earlier episodes, in which
McGarrity made more use of the New Mexico
landscape and the mythology of the West,
but if Kerney's mythic stew seems a bit
underspiced lately, that is not to say that
his ingredients aren't as fresh and carefully
prepared as ever. Bill Ott
Copyright
© American Library Association. All rights
reserved
From Publishers Weekly
Smooth
writing, well-drawn characters and several
neat plot twists distinguish the seventh
Kevin Kerney novel from Anthony Award-nominee
and former deputy sheriff McGarrity (Tularosa).
Never losing sight of his people in the
forensic detail, the author skillfully makes
us want to know what happens next without
unnecessary violence or contrivance. When
two murder victims turn up after a fire
in an abandoned fruit stand on a rural highway,
Kerney, now the police chief of Sante Fe,
N.Mex., takes a personal interest in the
case. One blackened corpse is a John Doe,
stabbed three times, who is soon identified
as a homeless Vietnam vet. The other remains
belong to a 29- year-old college student,
Anna Marie Montoya, who disappeared 11 years
before. As it happens, Kerney was involved
in the search for the missing Anna Marie.
Investigating the John Doe is Kerney's estranged
son, Clayton Istee, now a deputy sheriff
for the Lincoln County (N.Mex.) police,
whose mother was a full-blooded Mescalero
Apache. Clayton, a sympathetic character
struggling to support a wife and two small
kids, eventually finds himself in charge
of a task force looking into a much more
complex crime. Kerney would like to effect
a reconciliation between himself and his
son, but the process proves awkward for
them both. McGarrity keeps the parallel
plots moving nicely along toward a rational
solution. This is an exceptionally intelligent,
humane mystery in a series that deserves
a wide readership.
Copyright 2002
Cahners Business Information, Inc.
'Big
Gamble' gripping tale set in Southwest
Sunday, October 20, 2002 - Those who have yet to discover the joys of a Michael McGarrity novel are in for a treat with his seventh book, "The Big Gamble." This new adventure is set against the dramatic southwest, mostly in New Mexico, but the action spills over to El Paso and Denver.
Life is continually evolving for Kevin Kerney, the main character who is a former poster child of the West. When the journey began with McGarrity's first novel, "Tularosa," Kerney was a western icon, a loner who moved from job to job with no strings tugging at his heart. Well, things have changed. As a result he has become more real, a regular man with a messy and "normal" life. Kerney now has the kind of life that tries one's patience and yet brings joy to his existence.
Over the course of "The Big Gamble," Kerney is an expectant father, a newly discovered father and grandfather. He is also the unexpected recipient of a rather large inheritance. Kerney discovered in "The Judas Judge" (two books ago), that years ago his college sweetheart had a son and never told him. This son has grown up and has married and has two children of his own. So on a personal level, Kerney's life keeps changing by leaps and bounds.
Professionally, he has the enviable or wretched position as the Santa Fe Police Chief. As the chief, Kerney has made a lot of changes. Politically, they haven't always been popular but his solid procedural and staffing decisions have made the rank and file of the department grateful for his cop-friendly policies. Also luckily for him, he has 35-year veteran Helen Muiz as his personal secretary and office manager. The department is running better than ever.
On the home front, Kerney's new wife, Lt. Col. Sara is finishing up her studies at the Army's Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan. She is also pregnant and a little cranky. To add to the domestic spice, the couple is trying to design and build their dream home while apart.
"The Big Gamble" opens with a fire, not a bang. But not wildfires like most residents of the West are all too familiar with after this summer. This fire consumes an old and unused fruit stand in Lincoln County, N.M. While mopping up, the fire crew is surprised to find not one body, but two. When Deputy Clayton Istee, Kerney's recently revealed son, begins his examination of the site, he finds that there are two separate crime scenes in the one location that occurred more than 10 years apart.
Deputy Istee is new to the Lincoln County's Sheriff Department, but not to law enforcement. On his current job for only three months, Clayton was formerly a Mescalero Tribal Police Officer for five years. Sheriff Hewitt was impressed with his college education and experience, and he brought Clayton on board to complete the department's major felony investigation unit. This case is Clayton's first chance to head the unit and prove his worth to the sheriff.
When one body is discovered to be that of a Santa Fe woman reported missing 11 years ago, Clayton asks to talk to the original investigating detective. That detective turns out to be Clayton's own father, Kevin Kerney. They have only met a few times since Clayton's mother disclosed this father/son bombshell. Both men are unsure and uncomfortable with their new status.
One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is watching Kerney and Clayton conduct their separate investigations into the deaths of the two unfortunate people who came to share the same final resting place.
McGarrity shines as he portrays the details of a finely wrought murder investigation, bringing to the table his experience on the "job." His familiarity with human failings and emotions learned as a psychotherapist helps him bring his characters to life. One aspect that adds to the depth of his stories is how secondary characters spring to life. There are no stereotypes, just living, breathing people.
"The Big Gamble" brings into play greed, evil, power and the lives of those who strive to control and manipulate others for their own pleasure and profit. This is a gripping tale told with intensity and skill.
Copyright 2002 ©Leslie Doran is a Durango-based freelance writer.
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