Chasing Smoke - Hardcover

Cameron, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1606480189 ISBN 13: 9781606480182

Publisher: Bleak House Books, 2008

Synopsis

Battling cancer and on medical leave from the Portland, Oregon, police department, Thomas "Skin" Kadash is asked to help investigate a series of suspicious suicides.

About this title

About the Author

I live with my wife and a menagerie of critters in Portland, Oregon.

My second novel, CHASING SMOKE, will be available Fall 2008 from Bleak House Books. My stories have appeared in Spinetingler, The Dunes Review, The Alsop Review, and in KILLER YEAR, edited by Lee Child. LOST DOG, my debut suspense novel, is available from Midnight Ink Books. Lost Dog was a finalist for the 2008 Spotted Owl and Rocky Awards. I m currently at work on my third novel.

I am a member of Friends of Mystery and International Thriller Writers, and serve as Vice President of the Northwest Chapter of Mystery Writers of America.

Reviews

Irascible homicide detective Thomas Skin Kadash battles cancer while drawn into investigating a string of suicides with a common link in Cameron's thinly plotted second novel. Officially on medical leave from the Portland, Ore., police department, Skin is called to a crime scene by his partner, Det. Susan Mulvaney, when she discovers that the deceased was being treated by Skin's oncologist and wasn't the first of the doctor's patients to kill themselves. A list of five men—including several who have already committed suicide—surfaces, but when the police look into the deaths, there's little to suggest they weren't the last acts of men with terminal illnesses. Unconvinced, Skin launches his own unofficial investigation, while trying to withstand the pain of bladder cancer. Though Cameron (Lost Dog) uses the moody Northwest locale to his advantage, the uneven plot and thoroughly dislikable protagonist make for a disappointing read. (Dec.)
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The author of the popular debut mystery Lost Dog (2007) follows up with an intriguing story about a cancer-stricken homicide detective, Skin Kadash, who’s looking into the apparent suicides of several people who were patients of the same doctor, who happens to have been Skin’s doctor, too. Despite a premise that suggests black humor and a protagonist with a name that sounds like it came out of a Woody Allen essay, this is a serious crime novel. Cameron tells two stories, the investigation itself and Skin’s coming-to-terms with his possible death, and he tells them beautifully, making us feel what’s going on inside Skin’s mind. Skin Kadash is a compelling lead character, worthy of a series (if he lives that long), and the novel, set in Portland, Oregon, is dirty and visceral and intricate, and it engages the reader on an emotional as well as literary level. Fans of Lost Dogs will be thrilled, but expect this one to bring in a whole new crowd of readers. --David Pitt

Edition details

• Publisher: Bleak House Books
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1606480189
• ISBN 13: 9781606480182
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 286