Book Review: Crime School by Carol O’Connell. **** out of *****

(c) Putnam.

Carol O’Connell has to be one of the most underrated crime fiction writers of all-time. Her books are atmospheric, eccentric, and feature tremendously original plots. Crime School is no exception.

The plot: Police Detective Kathleen "Kathy" Mallory, a cold, hyper-intelligent young woman, recognizes a recent victim of a brutal attack as Sparrow, a prostitute she knew from her past who protected her on the streets of New York when Kathleen was a homeless child on the run. Slowly, clues reveal that this attack might be the work of a copy-cat killer who is repeating crimes from more than twenty years ago. But Kathy is worried, and so is her older partner Riker, as it seems that Mallory's past has finally caught up with her.

The above synopsis does the book a disservice, as O’Connell’s books are never about plots, which are usually serpentine and overly-complex. Instead, her books are about the journey, the characters, the unique voice that is both modernist and classical; accessible yet strange. O’Connell has a tendency towards self-indulgence, often losing herself in bizarre asides and overly quirky situations, elements which are more pronounced in her less effective novels, like Stone Angel, and Shell Game, also featuring Mallory. But here, although these distractions are present, O’Connell’s writing, for the most part, is at its finest, weaving myriad strands and fascinating psychological details into a compelling, haunting story about memory, trust, the magic of storytelling, and the beauty of an unsolvable mystery. The novel also pulls off the neat trick of working both as a stand-alone story, and as an introduction to the adventures of Mallory, of which this is the sixth volume, while ending on a pitch perfect note that could have served just as well as the series’ finale.

Crime School is crime fiction at its best, entertaining, moody, original, and with a touch of the surreal. If you’re new to the Mallory novels, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. If you’re already a fan, you’re in for a treat.

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Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2022.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer