The Innocents Richard Barre | ISBN : 0-8027-3261-5

The Innocents

Author: Richard Barre

Publisher: Walker & Company

Publication Date: 01 May, 1995

ISBN: 9780802732613

Pages: 332

Subjects: Mystery

Available as: , Trade Cloth, 978-0-8027-3261-3 E-Book - Multiple Formats, 978-1-937495-04-6

Description:

"In 1990, a flash flood rips through a lonely section of the California desert, unearthing the skeletons of seven murdered children. Amid the outcry for justice following the discovery, the media gives them a name: The Innocents." "The Innocents case soon becomes a pressure cooker of media hype and political heat. Who are they? Who put them there? How were they killed? Clues are negligible: a nick in the bones that tells investigators the murder weapon was likely a knife, and a tarnisned Saint Christopher medal bearing the inscription Vaya Con Dios, Benito. Papa, 1967." "One man recognizes those words, fully understands their meaning; they were once inscribed on the final gift to a six-year-old son who promised to be good. The man is Ignacio Reyes. Reyes must find out who killed his child; he knows, however, that the answer will unleash long-buried demons of memory and desperation, he turns to Wil Hardesty, a troubled private investigator who knows all too well about such things. He still grieves for his own young son." "As Hardesty digs deep, aided by a risky deal with the law, he exposes monstrous crimes, other burdens of guilt to be shouldered and discarded, and the chance, finally, to forgive himself for his own loss. But now he and those close to him have become the hunted."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

PW Publishers Weekly

Review Source: Publishers Weekly

Review Date: 1995-04-03

Barre enjoys modest success with a debut that, weighted with angst, stands uncertainly on a rickety plot. Aging surfer and Vietnam vet Wil Hardesty watches his marriage and sleuthing practice falter in the wake of his young son's death. He does still get the odd case, however: in this instance, the father of a dead boy comes forward when the bones of seven children are discovered in the California desert. With the help of the father, who tells of giving his son up for adoption to a frightening man with a scar, Wil follows the trail to a powerful church, a charismatic preacher and a generous benefactor‘and the man with the scar. The scenario suggests serial murder, illegal adoption, pedophilia or satanic dabblings. Managing to steer clear of the expected, Barre falters in the end with a simplistic solution. His efficient narrative style begs to be used on a better story. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved