Cul-de-Sac

March 3, 1997
At the beginning of Martin's stylish but unbearably brutal new thriller, Donald Growler puts a severed human head into a washing machine, pours in some shampoo after it, notes it's called Head & Shoulders, thinks "Or in this case just Head," then muses: "It wasn't that difficult being a homicidal maniac." Not exactly a thigh-slapper, but that's about as light as the book gets. The ferocious Growler was once wrongfully accused of murder; after his release from a crippling jail sentence, he goes around systematically slaughtering, in lubriciously painful detail, the people he believes set him up. Since one of them is perky heroine Annie Milton, with whom ex-cop Teddy Camel once had an affair, Camel finds himself drawn into the hunt for Growler--which in this case consists mostly of trying to stay alive and keep Annie ditto. With the aid of a couple of really crooked cops, a hideous old house that doubles as a torture chamber and sundry cruelties, including a victim burned alive, the nailing of someone's foot to the floor, several beheadings, a sanguinary garroting and an ingeniously contrived electrocution, Martin eventually thins out his cast. The fact that he writes swiftly and with some wit doesn't really compensate for the strain on the reader. This and the recent Bone Collector (Forecasts, Dec. 16) seem to be part of a campaign to prove that writers can reach new depths in depicting violence if they put their minds to it.

November 1, 1996
In this latest from the best-selling author of The Crying Heart Tattoo (LJ 9/15/94), a retired detective known as "The Human Lie Detector" investigates a series of murders evidently committed by a socialite once wrongly accused of homicide.

Starred review from March 15, 1997
Cul-de-Sac is a decaying old mansion right out of a gothic horror tale. Its latest owners, Paul and Annie Milton, are soon to become its latest victims. Seven years earlier, a terrible murder took place at Cul-de-Sac. Now the accused killer, Donald Growler, has been released from prison. Growler, who swears he was framed, has spent the last seven years plotting his revenge. Returning to Cul-de-Sac, Growler makes Paul his first victim in a terrifying game of sexual torture. When Annie begins to suspect what Growler has in mind for the future, she turns to Detective Teddy Camel, a man she's loved since she was 10. Annie knows Teddy will save her from the demented Growler, but Teddy does more than that--he uncovers the disturbing truth about the tragic case. Martin's story may be weak on the credibility scale, but readers won't care. They'll be riveted to their seats by the expertly executed killer-stalks-victim scenes and chilled to the bone by the psychotic Growler. The final perfect touches: whimsical doses of black humor and an unexpectedly satisfying ending. A consummate if gruesome thriller for all but the most conservative collections. ((Reviewed March 15, 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)

January 1, 1997
Martin has been praised for his willingness to experiment with character and tone. Here, retired police detective Teddy Camel, introduced in Lie to Me (LJ 6/1/90), agrees to help a former lover make sense of her husband's involvement with an ex-con bent on revenge for a wrongful-murder sentence. A mysterious mansion, millions in gold, photos of possible blackmail, and strong hints of a police cover-up of an earlier murder complicate Camel's investigation. By the time ten bodies amass, many minus their heads, readers have been immersed in blood, lies, and the bizarre inner workings of more than one twisted mind. This noir tale leaves no one unscathed. Even Camel, the "human lie detector," is forced to lie. Not for the squeamish, this will nevertheless please Martin's fans. For most fiction/suspense collections.--Roland C. Person, Morris Lib., Southern Illinois Univ., Carbondale