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Library | Call Number | Status |
|---|---|---|
Searching... Woodburn Public Library | DEUTERMANN | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... McMinnville Public Library | Deutermann, P. | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Silver Falls Library | FIC DEUTERMANN | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
An ingenious thriller of murder, revenge, and mystery in remote wilderness, by the acclaimed author of "The Firefly" and "Hunting Season"
When two lowlifes rob a gas station, murder the attendant, and then incinerate bystanders who are filling up their minivan, the Manceford County, North Carolina, police quickly arrest the killers at a nearby motel.
But a stubborn judge throws out the case because the suspects were not read their rights, leaving Sheriff Bobby Lee Baggett and Lieutenant Cam Richter to face the anger of the victims' families. Soon thereafter, a mysterious e-mail arrives in the department: a link to a video of one of the murderers being executed in a homemade electric chair, ending with a voice announcing, "That's one." The shocking video spreads throughout the Internet, drawing the attention of local, state, and federal authorities and national media, and putting intense pressure on Bobby Lee and Cam to find the vigilante before he claims his second victim.
Assigned to head the search, Cam finds himself resented by some of his fellow officers and subtly threatened by others. His job is further complicated by the fact that the offending judge is also his ex-wife and now---after years apart, and an uneasy reconciliation---his sometime lover. Cam's questions lead him to a remote mountain area in western North Carolina and a group of daredevils who call themselves "the cat dancers"---so named because they have tracked the last wild mountain lions in the region to their dens, where they have photographed the animals face-to-face, or died trying. Cam must hunt this group and the cats they seek, or become their next target.
Author Notes
P. T. Deutermann spent twenty-six years in government service before retiring to begin his writing career. He is the author of nine previous novels and lives with his wife in North Carolina.
Reviews (3)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Deutermann's first chapter features the eponymous, anonymous cat dancer as he rappels down a cliff in the dead of night, swings into the cave of a 200-pound female mountain lion and snaps a picture of the enraged beast as she attempts to disembowel him. The scene then shifts to a pair of thugs, who, while attempting to rob a gas station minimart, shoot the Pakistani owner and cause a fire that incinerates a young soccer mom and her child. The scumbag perps skate on a technicality when judge Annie Bellamy points out they were never read their rights before confessing. That Deutermann (Firefly; Darkside) is able to fuse these two disparate plots is testament to his well-drawn characters, intelligent, realistic dialogue and top-notch writing. Lt. Cam Richter, of the Manceford County, N.C., Sheriff's Office, is in charge of the minimart case, which becomes much more complicated after he receives an e-mail attachment that shows one of the two freed killers, K-dog Simmonds, being electrocuted in what is clearly a home-made electric chair. Cam is soon headed into the backcountry of the Great Smoky Mountains on the trail of both a nest of vigilante killers and the elusive, possibly apocryphal Eastern mountain lion. Petrified readers will be checking under the bed and in the closets for any panthers that may have crept inside while they were glued to the pages. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
In Deutermann's gripping tenth (Firefly, 2003, etc.), an ugly crime sparks outrage and a look at what is and isn't justice. A North Carolina gas station is held up by a pair of inept thugs, and in the process, three people are killed. The perps are easily caught. They confess and are brought to trial, their conviction assured--except it isn't. Lieutenant Cam Richter of the Manceford County (N.C.) Sheriff's Office--in court that day as a spectator--gets the kind of hollow feeling he's had too often before: technicality looming. He's right. Judge Annie Bellamy, who happens to be Cam's ex-wife, bounces the case, devastating the victims' families, infuriating the cops and delighting the mindless murderers, who can't quite believe their luck. Enter vigilantism. The sheriff's office receives a video recording in which Kyle ("K-Dog") Simmonds, strapped in a homemade electric chair, meets his maker. At the end of the tape, a voice announces, "That's one." Soon enough, Deleon ("Flash") Butts endures a similar fate. "That's two," the same voice says. Is the third meant to be the judge? Answers are hard to come by, and the hunt for them takes Cam to places he never expected to go. Somewhat over-plotted, but the besetting conflict is substantive, and the characters are credible and sympathetic. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Library Journal Review
Lt. Cam Richter is in a fix: to track down a dangerous vigilante, he needs the help of the "cat dancers," a bunch of North Carolina obsessives who follow the few remaining mountain lions to their dens for some dangerous photo ops. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.