Hades
by Russell Andrews
Published by Hachette
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Reviewed by Jeff Foster
Justin Westwood is the police chief of East End Harbor, a small town in the Hamptons of Long Island that has little crime and fewer criminals.
That changes one evening with the brutal murder of Evan Harmon, a incredibly wealthy resident whose millions fail to insulate him from an unseen enemy that abuses Harmon's body so viciously his wife can only identify him by his wedding ring.
Larry Silverbush, the self-serving DA, focuses on Abby Harmon, the semi-estranged wife of the deceased, as his prime suspect. When her alibi turns out to be Westwood who she an affair, Silverbush drags Westwood into his net where Westwood will be forced to face the beasts of his past that have haunted his subconscious since the death of his wife.
To make matters worse, Westwood's brother-in-law vanishes and is soon found murdered. This event draws him back to his roots in Providence, Rhode Island and into a world he has been trying to leave behind ever since his days on the police force there.
Westwood tries to connect with his parents and his wife's grieving sister, with the promise to use his skills to discover whom the murderer is and see justice served. However, before he can get on the case, another past demon surfaces in the form of FBI agent Wanda Chinkle, who warns him off pursuing the case in Rhode Island. True to his rogue personality, Westwood carries on and shortly is called by his old friend and ex-boss, Providence's Chief of Police, to a vacant lot in Providence where Chinkle lies brutally murdered. At the scene Westwood is given his first real clue, written in blood by Chinkle before she died: "Hades."
As yet undeterred, Westwood uncovers an intricate international financial scheme that is lining the pockets of a New York financial manager's pockets, has ties to organized crime in Rhode Island, and has unleashed a sadistic pair of Chinese assassins.
Saying that Hades has more fine layers than French pastry would be putting it lightly. The writing is superb; the characters are flawlessly constructed; and the final solution to the puzzle facing Westwood is one you won't guess until you read it.
Armchair Interviews says: This one is a true thriller reader's thriller.