Slipping Into Darkness by Peter Blauner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"[...]it's the [...] weirdest case he ever heard of. [...] Girl's dead twenty years and her blood shows up on another body last week."

The setup of Peter Blauner's Slipping Into Darkness (2006) is indeed intriguing. Is the "girl" really dead? Did the murderer store her blood to leave it on another victim? Maybe the lab results are not correct? Another difficult review to write because one needs to be very careful not to divulge a spoiler. In fact, the readers who like the surprise factor in mystery/suspense/crime novels should not read the synopsis on the dust jacket - the publisher provides enough spoilers there. By the way, I have always been wondering why people want to know the entire plot, except perhaps the very last twist, before reading a mystery genre book?

The main part of the story takes place in 2003 but in a flashback to 20 years earlier we read an account of the interrogation of a murder suspect, a 17-year-old boy, conducted by Detective Francis X. Loughlin. The interrogation scenes are quite graphic as we witness the gradual breaking of the boy's willpower and resistance. The detective's maturity and experience make the terms of the duel quite uneven; the scene evokes images of a "duel" between a hunter armed with a high-power rifle and a deer tied to a tree trunk. Naturally, the boy is convicted of murder and sent to prison.

Now, 20 years later, the convicted murderer is released on technicality. While he is trying to have the conviction vacated, with the help of a streetwise lawyer working pro bono, Det. Loughlin is trying to put the murderer back behind the bars. The battle between the detective and the convict constitutes the main narrative axis of the plot. There is another murder and intriguing connections between the two cases emerge.

Unfortunately, as usual in the mystery genre, the plot gets less and less plausible as it unfolds. One of the best setups that I can remember slowly degenerates to become a disappointing denouement. The author uses some tired clichés of the genre, for instance, the 'rare disease cliché' or the sudden appearance of a person from the past. The penultimate conversation, instead of being powerful and dramatic as the author undoubtedly planned, sounds contrived and ridiculous.

On the plus side, there is a touching thread that involves Zana, a Kosovar young woman from Prishtinë. The reader will find some cool passages, for instance

"'Pretty sharp, lady,' he said.
'A lot of things become much more obvious in this world when you have a vagina.'
He nodded, acknowledging the universal truth of this [...]"

The author writes well, and the novel is very readable. Had the author conceived a solution worthy of the outstanding setup, it would have been an excellent novel of suspense. Even with all the implausibility I am recommending it.

Three stars.

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