3 out of 4 stars
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How could someone be truly evil? Homicide reporter, Gene Mclain asks himself that same question in The Man With The Evil Eyes written by Robert Cawley. It's the year 1950 and two cars salesmen have gone missing. The police don't suspect any mischief and write the case off as just two guys who are partying in Mexico.
However, Gene Mclain has a gut instinct that there is something else going on with this case. When a car from the dealership that these men worked for is found abandoned, Mclain knows they are looking at a double homicide. Determined to search out the truth, Mclain investigates where the police will not go. Over and over again, Mclain's investigations lead to nothing until the two bodies are discovered. Mclain knows he has a duty to report the truth and wants to get to the bottom of this horrific murder. He discovers the murderer but is not prepared for the motive behind the murder.
I picked this book because I enjoy a good crime and suspense novel. One thing about most crime novels is that there seems to always be a determined individual who will not cease until the case or problem is solved. That is so true about this novel. Gene Mclain is an award winning homicide reporter who will stop at nothing to solve this case. He goes off of pure instinct or intuition. However, what can be called determination comes off as cocky and egotistical. He puts reporting above everything including his family. I had hoped that his character would have more development but he continued to risk his family's well-being to expose the truth. This may seem admirable but I actually despised his character. He also came off creepy. He called his wife, "his little girl" several times. Whenever there was a woman in the room there was always a mention of her breasts, her hips or how her body looked. These descriptions were over-the-top.
There were a couple things I did enjoy about this book. Every scene is very detailed and the author includes the music that is playing. There are at least 25 songs that are used to describe different scenes throughout the book. This added a very unique touch. I also enjoyed the motive and personality of the killer. The author did a great job making him truly evil.
My biggest problem with this novel was the pacing. It was extremely slow. A good portion of the book goes into detail about Mclain going into different clubs and restaurants, asking the same question and getting the same answer. I love that the author is detailed but there needed to be a way to pace these scenes a little better. If you are a little sensitive to graphic violence then this will not be the book for you. There are a few graphic descriptions of the murder. This is a book for those enjoy crime and suspense novels. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars since this book looked to be well-edited but I could not give it a perfect score due to the pacing and lack of development with the main character.
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The Man With Evil Eyes
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I'm thinking that this one is going onto my want to read list.
Thank you!
