At Sea

When his wife leaves him, Provincetown police detective Peter Blue is left to deal on his own with a messy rape case, threats to his life, and his growing attraction to the rape victim

Cape Cod's dramatic coastline and lively, heterogeneous population supply the few bursts of color in this otherwise drab and forgettable police procedural, obviously a bid by Olson ( Dorit in Lesbos ) to enter a more commercial market. Relieved of duty pending investigation of a controversial shooting, menaced by the dead man's dangerous family, stumped and personally entangled in a possibly related, brutal rape case, Provincetown detective Peter Blue is already reeling when he learns that his wife Sara has left him. He embarks on a spree of self-destructive drinking, is severely beaten in a bar and struggles to redefine himself as he investigates Beth Charters's rape and eventual murder. Olson sparks some interest with his evocation of Provincetown's gay culture and other regional details, but the narrative is listless throughout, its plotting rough and unsuspenseful. The characters, though refreshingly free of genre cliches, are nonetheless flat and unengaging.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Olson's feverish novels (Utah, 1987, etc.) have always leaned toward menace, and it's not surprising to see him try his hand at a true-blue detective story. His hero, Provincetown cop Peter Blue, is investigating the rape of Beth Charters--and trying to get over shooting drug-runner Jimmy Hale, who was carrying Beth's phone number in his wallet--when his wife Sara, called back to Wisconsin by her mother's illness, decides to return to her old home without him. Things get worse: Peter learns that Beth's been attacked again, raped, and killed. It's obvious that there are connections between Beth's killing and Jimmy's survivors--including a cantankerous father and a sinister cousin who have already been harassing Peter; what isn't obvious is the strange shapes these connections, forged in a gay bar and another smuggling racket, will finally take. Instead of dragging down Olson's imagination, the formulaic conventions actually provide backbone for this pipe-dream of a cop story. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In a departure from his earlier fiction ( Dorit in Lesbos , LJ 3/1/90), Olson turns his hand to crime fiction. Fortyish police detective Peter Blue finds himself attracted to a rape victim, then becomes suspect when the rapist returns to murder her. Meanwhile, Pete's marriage comes apart, and repercussions from a drug-deal killing bring threats and assault his way. The real focus, though, appears to be the changes in Pete himself. Always entrancing, the narrative waxes moody, reflective, philosophical, and atmospheric. A police procedural with a personal touch.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.