Mission Flats [Mass Market Paperback]

Monday, March 19, 2012

Mission Flats [Mass Market Paperback]

Product Details

Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
Publisher: Dell (October 26, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0440237394
ISBN-13: 978-0440237396
Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 1 x 6.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)

By : William Landay
Price : $7.50

Customer Reviews

I always like to be surprised by a debut novel, and when it is a mystery novel, all the better. Mission Flats begins twenty years ago when a cop is murdered in a bar, and his killer commits suicide by jumping off the Tobin Bridge in Boston. Then we go to Versailles, Maine, to the murder of a Boston district attorney, found by Ben Truman, police captain a town where not too much happens. Back and forth to Maine and Boston, until we slowly learn how and why so many characters are linked. The ending was a knock-out surprise, and well done by the author. The mysteries and secrets in this book are exquisite for a debut novel, and you will not be able to rest until you know them all. The mark of a good book for me is that I thought about the characters for hours after I finished the book, and as a voracious reader I was not ready to start a new book until I could let them go.

I enjoyed MISSION FLATS, but I don't think it lives up to the largely ecstatic reviews it has received.
The first 100 pages of this novel are indeed superb. This novel begins by detailing the everyday life of a young, inexperienced police chief of a small town in Maine. A murder takes place, and the state police swoop in, quickly relegating the police chief to the sidelines. The first 100 pages are a brilliant character study about the police chief's life in this small town, and I really enjoyed them.
Unfortunately, after the first 100 pages, Landay takes MISSION FLATS into a very different direction. The small-town police chief travels to the big city of Boston, and begins investigating the murder on his own. At this point, the plot begins to spin out of control and loses all credibility. Our young hero suddenly becomes a brilliant cop, beds the DA on the case, runs into key witnesses by coincidence, exposes a long-dormant conspiracy, and so on. None of these events develop naturally or believably.
There is an effective twist at the end of MISSION FLATS, but it is based on the narrator deceiving the reader, which really isn't playing fair. The deception does leave something of a bad taste in the reader's mouth. Still, I found the ending a true shocker, and I admire Landay's courage in coming up with an unconventional resolution to the story.
Overall, MISSION FLATS is a good book, but I can't recommend it with enthusiasm, largely due to the plot weaknesses I outlined above.