BRK is the name given by the press to a killer in the small town of Clark Valley in the Midwest – it stands for bludgeon, rape, kill. Two victims have been murdered in quick successtion and the assumption is that the third attack is imminent.
Special Agent Constant Marlowe arrives to track down the killer, but things are never as simple as they appear. What do a local group of Neo-Nazis have to do with the killings? As Constant tries to protect a family of witnesses, is she doing the exact opposite – and leading the killer to his next victim?
So I’m a bit behind on my reading, so I thought, why not? I’ve been offered a free novella on some Kindle deal, so let’s take a look at it. It’s written by Jeffery Deaver, one of my favourite thriller writers, and it’s a novella.
It’s 261 pages long, there are Golden Age novels that are longer than this book! And if you’ve got Amazon Prime, I think it’s free for the rest of March. No idea how that makes financial sense for anyone bar the customer, but let’s not look a gift equine in the dentures.
It’s a decent read – certainly value for money! – while not being up there with Deaver’s very best. Of course, Deaver’s best is stratospheric, so it’s still very good.
Constant has appeared before in some other Amazon novellas – not entirely clear on which ones exactly – and is certainly more than a one off character. There’s some backstory that is hinted at, and I’d be curious to see more of her to find out what it is and where it takes her. Not that it dominates the story, but it certainly drives the character.
And, as you might expect, nothing in the story is what you would expect. Once the reveals start coming, it’s almost like dominoes toppling. There’s a good section where it’s shown how Constant has worked out what’s happening, rather than just stumbling over the killer, and at least one real surprise at the end. Very curious about the last page as to whether there’s more story to come based on the events here, or it’s just left as a shadow hanging over events.
I thought the BRK story did drag a little in the middle with no real advance until it all kicks off towards the end, but all in all, this is a very enjoyable not-that-short read. And definitely value for money!
In Search of the Classic Mystery Novel 
I appreciate that there is thoughtful plotting to be found here, but overall, find Jeffrey Deaver’s work to essentially be violence porn, often involving female characters. His books typically aren’t for me, but I don’t want to “yuck anyone’s yum.” His fundamental skill in plotting (which I appreciate) is separate from what the plot actually is (which I often don’t enjoy).
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Interesting take, but I’ve never found his books overtly violent or anti-women. His villains are rarely violent psychopaths. This novella might come close, I suppose, but it’s one of the exceptions from my experience.
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Decent read, obviously nowhere near as good as previous books. However it just seemed to lose its way at the end leaving things up in the air so I imagine there will be a sequel or two. However I didn’t find it interesting enough to be willing to pay for this.
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