It can be difficult in the ocean of crime fiction to conjure a sleuth who’s undeniably fresh, while still feeling authentic, rather than try-hard or forced by the author. So it’s fabulous to discover that award-winning kids and YA author William Hussey, whose oeuvre swarms across horror, crime, and romcoms, has done it with real flair in his first adult thriller.
Enter Scott Jericho; like Hussey himself, he’s a gay man who grew up in a travelling fairground community. Unlike Hussey, Jericho is a former cop recently out of prison, having lost his job and freedom for beating a violent arsonist during an interrogation. Disgraced and penniless, he’s retreated into himself among the cocoon of the fairground family he once rejected. Alcohol, pill popping, casual sex; anything to numb his failures, and escape his ghosts. Yet like Patrick Jane in The Mentalist, growing up in the showgrounds has honed Jericho’s rare observational skills and ability to read people.
So when he’s lured by an unexpected offer to privately investigate a bizarre series of murders linked to fairground folklore, Jericho begins to come alive again. But will his hunt bring death nearer to those he’s loved? Hussey casts a superb tale that plays with dark and light, while taking readers behind the curtain to glimpse the backbreaking slog and prejudice faced by the travellers who bring fun and magic to fairgrounds, before being moved on.
William Hussey
Killing Jericho is a gritty, tense thriller that’s vividly told, with some remarkable characters, including a lead who keeps readers (and most around him) off-kilter.
Reviewed by Craig Sisterson
0 Comments