Review: Graveyard Shift

In news, the graveyard is the 9 pm to 6 am shift, also known as the nightside. This is when reporters scramble after any kind of story, anything from a 5-alarm fire to a cat stuck up a tree. This is the shift where junior reporters make their careers, and senior reporters break them. Maxi Poole, Channel 6’s prime-time anchor, suddenly finds herself assigned to the nightside by her boss Pete Capra, and she has no idea why. Determined to find out, she joins forces with stringer Tom McCartney and slowly begins to unravel the story of the “walk-in killer,” who 13 years earlier murdered several women by cyanide in the San Francisco area. It was this story that sent Capra from the Bay to Los Angeles. Now Maxi has to find out why Pete sent her after this story without any background—or die trying.

Despite that summary, Graveyard Shift is nothing short of the worst mystery I’ve read so far this year. It’s possibly the worst I’ve read in the last few years. Each time the author switches point of view characters, that character has to recap what everyone else has done in the last chapter or two (or 3). I’d call that padding, quite frankly.

As for the “surprise” twist at the end, well, it wasn’t so much a surprise as something that came out of left field. It was almost as if Lange had no idea who the killer was until the last chapter or two before the end, then she picked a perpetrator by sticking a pin in her list of characters. There was no logical set-up, not a single clue laid out anywhere that I could see, and frankly, I’m a pretty perspicacious reader.

Of course, what was really annoying was the blatant product placement. I found myself saying, “Do I really need to know what kind of car so-and-so is driving? Am I supposed to care that Maxi’s wearing an Azzedine Alaia suit and Jimmy Choo heels whilst in pursuit of the killer?” The answer every time was, “No.”

Do yourself a favour, Gentle Reader: save your $34.95 and buy a new pair of shoes. Just not Jimmy Choos.

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Catherine Thompson - RAM

Book Review: Graveyard Shift