FalconClaw

Säters

By: Michael Cook

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Monsters create monsters; Frank kept telling himself. Since his father was killed by a serial killer when he was only fourteen, Frank was on the path of becoming a monster himself.

Then, on Easter Sunday of 2019, less than two years after The Schuylkiller wreaked havoc on the City of Philadelphia, a new killer reared his head and began his own reign of terror.

When Frank settles into a quiet life with his former partner, Penny, and their infant daughter, he is pulled out of retirement and must go it alone if he’s to save his family and his soul.

What Frank discovers next will have him second-guessing himself and the motives of the killer; or, is it killers? Frank will be taken to Montreal and Sweden to uncover the true identity of the killers and the truth of the kind of man he is or might become. Will it take a monster to kill a monster? Frank will find out, but at what cost?

Editorial Review: ThrillWriting Blog: Elias J. McClellan - Crime Writer

FalconClaw Säters opens outside of a mental hospital in Sweden and leaves the reader no doubt they’re in for a departure from Michael Cook’s previous books in the FalconClaw series. Cook’s first book, Old Man Winter was a cozy in all but the bookstore shelving-selection. The Sleep Room was a visceral, street-level police procedural, FalconClaw Säters is psychological thriller with grit and grisly detail.

It also delivers on the promise in Cook’s previous books while ratcheting up the stakes right along with the body-count.
Shifting from Sweden, we land back in northern Philadelphia with detectives Penny and Frank. Now married, the 39th Precinct alums want nothing more than to put the Schuylkiller behind them. Still both struggle to recover from deep physical and psychological scars.

Then a real estate development intended to erase memories of murder and loss goes up in flames. Frank immediately suspects arson and much worse. But no one else is so certain. Then the bodies turn up. All-too soon an element of foreboding permeates our reunion with Frank and Penny.

As the killer circles ever closer to home, employing details and methods eerily familiar, the foreboding turns to dread. Penny and Frank race to put the pieces together amid their grief and loss. Indeed each victim is someone they know.

There are beats in FCS that remind me of George Pelecanos’ work, especially in the use of time and place within the fragmented story structure. Cook’s attention to characters and what moves them that makes FCS so much fun to read. He uses each character like a piece in a mosaic, each fragment a picture of the larger story.

It can be difficult to change writing gears. That’s why authors like Charlaine Harris may dabble in other genres (True Blood) but always come back to their home genre. The skillset necessary to work within different genre norms and tone can be subtle but daunting.

But the tight-rope writing required for high-stakes thrillers is something that Cook does well. In previous reviews, I commented on the use of seeping cold that underscored Cook’s first FalconClaw book, Old Man Winter. In The Sleep Room it was the moldy smell of outdated squadrooms and wrung-out cars. But in FalconClaw Säters it is dread that underscores the tone of the story and the contemporary setting.

Our killer here, as in TSR, is out for revenge, not visceral thrills. In pursuit of his own twisted justice for generational scars, the killer is plotting and methodical. Which, of course, is even more frightening than the stark-raving mad psycho.
To the author’s credit, Cook never loses focus on the hunters. Our connection to Frank and Penny is what grips us around the throat. Our desire to see them survive, (truly, catching the bad guy was two books ago) the monster rampaging through their lives is what keeps us turning the page.

Heart-wrenching thriller...

Like all of Michael Cook's, you will laugh, cry, and in this case, feel for the ruthless killer. Säters is a masterclass, by far the best of Cook's seven novels, and I've read them all. Well done. I will not forget the FalconClaw series. I am certain that as time goes by, I will pull these books from the shelf and once again walk the streets of North Philly, Montreal, and Sweden. The end.