The Sacrifice

When ex-bank robber Tyler Pierce's daughter is murdered by a serial killer in Florida, Pierce uses his underworld connections in a desperate attempt to find the killer and, at the same time, straighten out his own life.

There's little to surprise veteran thriller readers in Smith's new crime novel (after Karma, 1994), and not much to please them either. The villain is a familiar sort?a serial killer?as are her pursuers, aging robber Tyler Pierce, who's an ex-con, and Naomi Cohen, an erstwhile prostitute with a heart of gold. Despite rich detailing, these two heroes in fact seem chipped from any number of Elmore Leonard novels, as does the Florida setting. The set-up is strong: after ripping off an armored van shipment, Pierce learns that his daughter has been slain in Florida by the maniac known as the Sweetwater killer. Heading south to find the murderer and extract revenge, he hires Naomi as his local guide and sorts out clues, running up against a bent cop, drug runners and other oddballs. There's no mystery, since readers are told the killer's identity early on, and there's scant suspense as Smith devotes too much space to interplay, sometimes cute, sometimes maudlin, between his leads. Fierce action too rarely punctuates the narrative. The most extended action sequence?of Pierce struggling naked through lethal swamps as a hurricane sweeps by?is powerful but seems arbitrarily inserted for effect. Even the killer's motivation?rage against abortions?appears more calculated than realistic, and leads to some intrusive pro-choice soapboxing. A pat ending laced with symbolism only confirms that Smith is straining here, etching a novel that, despite some crisp lines, winds up feeling as bogus as a three-dollar bill.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

An engrossing blue-collar thriller from Smith (Karma, l994, etc.) in which an ex-con, almost ready to go straight, taps underworld contacts for help in tracking down the serial killer who butchered his daughter. Recently released from a Kansas penitentiary where he did seven years for bank robbery, Tyler Pierce ekes out a living as a roofing contractor in rural Missouri. While getting his life back in order, however, he can't resist returning to the violent trade that earned him big money and the sobriquet Iceman. After a successful but bloody heist that nets him nearly $900,000, Tyler returns home to learn that his daughter Lisa has been knifed to death in Florida, where she worked as a park ranger. She's the latest of six victims authorities believe to have been slain by a single assassin. The narrative makes clear early on that the murderer is Karen Yeager, a closet maniac obsessively intent on reuniting certain young women with the babies they had aborted at the clinic where she works as a nurse. Tyler goes hunting for the murderer; but even with the gabby assistance of Naomi Cohen, an aging hooker hired to guide him around unfamiliar territory, he has trouble picking up the trail of the personable psycho who deems herself an avenging angel. Feisty Naomi, however, more than earns her keep with resourceful investigatory talents and a detailed knowledge of the redneck power structure--though, even so, Tyler manages to run afoul of a local narcotics ring. At length, he and Naomi learn what links five of the dead women, though not before the outlaw sleuth is left for dead by the druglord's thugs in a cypress swamp as a hurricane is about to strike. When Naomi meets a particularly unpleasant end, Tyler takes but cold comfort in bringing crazy Karen to a rough kind of justice. A gritty and bleakly gripping walk on the wild side of the Sunbelt. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Missouri bank robber Tyler Pierce, who traces his heritage to the infamous James-Younger gangs of the late 1800s, is keeping a low profile after stealing a million in Gold Eagles from a Michigan armory. After things cool down, he plans to visit the grown daughter he hasn't seen in 10 years, thanks to a long stretch in prison. Then he learns that his daughter was the fifth victim of a serial killer known as Sweetwater. Pierce decides that, using his criminal contacts in Florida, the scene of the murders, he can do better than the cops who have worked the case for five years. Aided by Naomi, a local hooker, Pierce backtracks through the investigation until he finds the piece of the puzzle the police overlooked. An intense, thought-provoking novel in which believable characters on the edge of society examine the course of their lives in the face of tragedy and incredible danger. Wes Lukowsky

Highly praised for earlier novels depicting independent-minded characters in difficult situations, both female (Due North, LJ 9/92) and male (Stone City, LJ 4/1/90), Smith here develops another striking antihero who certainly follows a different drummer. Tyler Pierce, recently released from prison for bank robbery and settled in small-town Missouri as a roofer, learns that his 22-year-old daughter is the latest victim of a serial killer in Florida. With the aid of money stashed from one last bank job and the help of contacts outside the law, including a prostitute, a drug dealer, a crooked cop, a retired pimp turned female, and numerous other vivid characters, he tracks the killer. Like Carl Hiaasen, Smith knows the dark side of Florida with its bizarre characters, and his atypical protagonist might well be compared to some of Elmore Leonard's. We know the killer early on, but the plot is still cinematically fast, the dialog fine, and the suspense, mixed with humor, builds to a real twist. Highly recommended.?Roland C. Person, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.