(AUDIO) BOOK REVIEW
Don’t Play This Chilling Game Of Numbers
Book review: Think Of A Number By John Verdon
We can argue that a detective is a detective is a detective, or that each erotic story ends the same, but the way the author introduces the story and develops it can go a long way to keep the reader entertained.
It was the mystery mentioned in the blurb of this story, when shown in my list of recommended listens, which drove me to click the ‘play’ button.
The author, John Verdon
John Verdon, born on 1 January 1942, graduated from Regis High School in New York City and Fordham University. He was interested in martial arts, motorcycles, and sports cars, and he even worked as a stuntman in a theme park, but he always knew he wanted to be a writer.
Since he also had to earn a living, he worked in the advertising industry in New York City.
When he retired, he and his wife left the city and moved to a rural area in the western foothills of the Catskill Mountains. There he spent the next ten years designing and building furniture, while becoming a fan of classic detective stories.
Naomi, wife of John. inspired him to write his first mystery novel — Think of a Number. The success, as well as the critique the book received, lead to the second book — Shut Your Eyes Tight — and it featured the same characters as in John Verdon’s first book. A series with a retired NYPD homicide detective, Dave Gurney, flowed from John’s pen.
Books in the series were translated into over two dozen languages, and the rest of those Dave Gurney books are:
*** Let the Devil Sleep
*** Peter Pan Must Die
*** Wolf Lake
*** White River Burning
*** On Harrow Hill
Dave Gurney, the detective
This detective and his wife have moved out of the city after his retirement (sounds familiar, right?), and he accidentally finds himself a new job, making art from the images of the faces of convicted criminals. His wife, Madeleine, is constantly trying to get him to also do his chores around the house.
Then an old college mate contacted him about letters he has received, and Dave gets caught up in the mystery of those letters, and even more so after the acquaintance’s horrific murder.
The killer — sender of those and following letters — has asked the college mate to think of a number. He did, and inside the letter was… the same number. How did the killer know this? Where did the killer get his information?
How will Dave Gurney solve this crime, and what does he do when his wife becomes the target of this serial killer?
An enjoyable read
As said in my introduction, the blurb of this story was enough to make me want to listen to it. At first, I wanted to know how the killer knew a number someone would think of, and of course, I wanted to find out who the killer was, and what his motive was for killing.
As the story unfolds, it’s not only about the detective work but also about Dave Gurney’s relationship with his wife. It keeps the story in balance.
This is the blurb of the book:
It begins with a letter… The letter contains a request — think of a number, any number — and a sealed envelope. Inside the envelope is that number… When Dave Gurney, retired NYPD homicide detective, is contacted by an old college acquaintance about some startling letters he’s been receiving, it is at first little more than a diverting but sinister puzzle. Until the acquaintance is brutally killed.
Suddenly Gurney finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation that makes no sense. The killer seems to have known his victim intimately. How else was he able to predict his victim’s thoughts, even his actions? How did he know his darkest secrets? The killer is smart and he is playing with the police…
From Audible.co.uk
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