Abandoned by user

More than any of the books so far, this book reminded me of an episode from Homicide, Life on the Streets, with two separate storylines that are set to converge.

In one story line, we have Virginia Dodge, who has taken the squad room hostage, waiting for Steve Carella to arrive back at the station so she can kill him. Her husband, Frank, had murdered a store clerk, and when he was convicted and sentenced to prison, she blamed Steve Carella. When Frank died of tuberculosis, her blame became hate, and she decided to exact revenge.

Steve Carella, on the other hand, is out at the scene of a suicide, trying to determine if it might have been murder. This part of the story is a classic locked room mystery that could've come straight out of a John Dickson Carr book. It's delightful.

Unfortunately, the Virginia Dodge story drove me nuts. I simply wasn't convinced that this particular woman could have managed to take a squad room full of trained police officers hostage for hours to simply wait for one of their colleagues to show up and be gunned down in cold blood. Rather than feeling tension, I felt annoyance.

Not one of my favorite entries so far.