Review: The 37th Hour

The 37th Hour Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Jodi Compton
Class/Genre: Mystery Thriller Police Procedural
Series: Sarah Pribek # 1
2003, Bantam Dell(delacorte) $21.95/ 336 pages

Sheriff's Detective Sarah Pribek has handled many missing person's cases over the years. But she is surprised to find herself on hand when a missing teenager is found... balancing precariously on the framework of a railroad bridge above the Mississippi. The jump may be survivable but the river itself is merciless. Pribek decides to climb out on the railing with her. When the girl jumps, Pribek jumps. Both are fished out of the water minutes later, cold and wet. But still alive.

The fallout from the girls' suicide attempt seems to set off a chain of events in Pribeks already wobbly life. Ultimately, Pribek thinks about her partner, Genevieve Brown, and the horrible event that took place not long before.

Driving to Brown's home after a shift, Pribek and Brown find a neighbor's house surrounded by police. Brown's daughter, Kamareia, was the victim of a brutal rape. Brown was treated for shock at the scene. Pribek rode to the hospital with the battered girl and got an I.D. on the perpetrator. Kamareia later died of massive internal injuries and Pribeks's I.D. was thrown out of court. The man everyone knew was responsible went free.

Not able to emotionally cope with the outcome, Brown took compassionate leave and Pribek was left feeling guilty. She and her husband, Shiloh Muzio, try to go on with their lives but all three are haunted by Kamareia's death.

When Shiloh doesn't show up in Quantico for training planned months in advance, Pribek suddenly has a new missing person case in her hands. Her husbands. With resources already thin, she starts to investigate on her own and is pulled into another mystery. Why did her husband leave his family behind without a word seven years ago?

Every layer that is peeled off by dogged inquiry breeds another question. And every answer is more painful than the last. As each hour ticks away, Pribeks chances of finding her husband alive diminish.

Relying on only Pribek's emotionally charged view of the world in both present and past tense gives the reader a very limited understanding of very complex events making up this story. It was difficult to develop empathy with Pribek without further input.

The passion that eventually led to the actions in the dénouement made everything that happened understandable and even forgivable.

Unfortunately, Compton took things too far and gave one reason after another. The characters became unreal and unsympathetic, even brittle. Compton could have easily stretched out the back-story of Shiloh's downfall over a series of books. The premise was excellent and Sarah Pribek has the makings of a strong series lead.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Jennifer Jordan

Book Review: The 37th Hour