Publisher's Weekly Review
"How did your mother die?" For San Francisco PI Wyatt Hunt, that enigmatic text message triggers his biggest, and most personal, case-and it's a great start to bestseller Lescroart's outstanding fourth Hunt novel (after 2010's The Treasure Club). Hunt, an orphan with few details of his birth parents, soon learns that his birth name was Wyatt Carson; that his mother, Margaret, was murdered; and that his father, Kevin, was charged with the crime but never convicted. He also receives, from the priest who married his parents, a letter from Kevin asserting his innocence. Lescroart deftly handles a large supporting cast and makes fine use of the city of San Francisco while cleverly incorporating a piece of real history into the narrative, the infamous Jonestown massacre in Guyana in 1978 (the "People's Temple" leader Jim Jones had been active in San Francisco). This book succeeds on every level-as a mystery, as a thriller, and as an exploration of its appealing hero. Agent: Barney Karpfinger. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Treasure Hunt, 2010, etc.) an improvement. The scene in which Hunt finally comes face to face with his anonymous informant, however, is transfixing.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
*Starred Review* The third Wyatt Hunt mystery is also, by far, the best. Whereas The Hunt Club (2006) and Treasure Hunt (2010) were rather long on story and short on character development, this new novel supplies Hunt, the San Francisco private investigator, with a rich and complex past, turning him from a relatively standard-issue mystery protagonist into a fully realized human being. The story begins with Hunt receiving a text message from an anonymous sender: How did your mother die? This is a question steeped in mystery: Hunt is adopted, with no idea who his birth parents are. Determined to find out what the message means and who sent it, Wyatt soon learns the shocking truth about his own life. This is one of the more interesting mystery-novel themes a hero uncovering the secrets of his own past and Lescroart gets everything he can out of it. The story is suspenseful and surprising, full of twists and turns, but, even better, Hunt finally becomes a protagonist worthy of comparison with Lescroart's other series characters, Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky. Readers who enjoyed the first two Hunt novels will definitely want to read this one, and Lescroart fans who found those books a bit on the thin side will change their tune this time. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Lescroart is a consistent crime-fiction A-lister, and the growth of the Hunt series will further solidfy his status.--Pitt, David Copyright 2010 Booklist
Library Journal Review
In Lescroart's latest Wyatt Hunt thriller, the successful San Francisco-based private detective receives a text message from an unknown party asking if he knows how his birth mother died. Orphaned and raised by a caring foster family, Hunt never had an interest in finding his biological parents-until now. The message sets Hunt on a touching and tragic quest for the truth, which may cost him everything. VERDICT Well read by Eric Dawe, the story contains enough twists and turns to hold the listener's interest. As in previous Hunt novels, the city is as much of a character as the wide range of police officers and PIs filling the narrative. Recommended to Lescroart's fans and others who enjoy fast-paced detective stories. ["Devoted Lescroart fans may enjoy the work, but thrill-seekers might want to look elsewhere," read the less-than-positive review of the New York Times best-selling Dutton hc, LJ Xpress Reviews, 1/20/12.-Ed.]-Stephen L. Hupp, West Virginia Univ. Parkersburg Lib. (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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