Rating: 
Summary: Shucks
Review: I suppose when some one creates something as magical as "Breakheart Hill", it's only natural for one to hope this magic is repeated in the works that follow. Now I'm not saying that an author should necessarily carbon copy his or her sucesses, but I am saying that an author has a certain responsibility to his previous work. And as good as "The Interrogation" is, it's just not good enough when compared to Thomas's previous novels. There's a certain lack of sincerity and authenticity to this book that the silly graphic clock heralding each new chapter can't fix. Thin characterization, weak ending...this reads like something hurried up and rushed to the publisher to meet a deadline. The best thing about this book? It won't be Cook's last.
Rating: 
Summary: My first Thomas H. Cook book, it will not be the last one.
Review: It is 1952 and the Miranda warnings are still about two decades away from being implemented. Albert Jay Smalls is being sustained by the police in suspicion with the strangling murder of a child named Anna Lake. The homeless man has been seen in the vicinity of the victim at the park so the cops take him in for questioning. The police have twelve hours to find evidence against Mr. Smalls or be forced to let the suspect loose. Detectives Jack Pierce and Norman Cohen are responsible for interrogating Mr. Smalls. They are both convinced that they have the right man but when morning comes their lives will be irrevocably changed.Thomas H. Cook knows how to attract reader interest by creating this haunting story. The murder of a child will always affect everyone around including the cops investigating the case. Pierce and Cohen have a personal stake in solving this murder. The author demonstrates this by going inside the main characters psyches and showing what is inside. Cook enhances the experience by introducing other people that have a tangential link to the crime. Among them is Eddie Lambrusco, a garbage man, who is forced to work on a night his daughter is sick and home alone; Chief Burke is at the hospital keeping a deathwatch over his drug-addicted son; and a petty criminal is running a fencing operation. All these characters have a purpose within the novel and the author does an excellent job in integrating the stories into its satisfying conclusion. THE INTERROGATION is a good novel that should not be missed. It is no wonder that Thomas H. Cook is one of the best mystery novelists of the United States.
Rating:
Summary: My first Thomas Cook read
Review: It is interesting to read the other reviews. The Interrogation was the first Thomas Cook book I've read. I was impressed and didn't put it down. I picked it up in an airport and when I read the back cover the I was skeptical about the subject matter. Just how interesting can the interrogation of a suspect by a defined hour be? But I was riveted. After the flight looked for every 5 or 10 minutes available to continue on with the story. I don't think you'll go wrong if you spend time with this book. I've now ordered others to broaden my famiarity with his works, but I'd give The Interrogation high marks for a good read.
Rating:
Summary: the interrogation
Review: Just not up to Mr. Cook's standard. Thomas Cook has written some of my favorite books (Evidence of Blood, The Chatham School Affair, Heartbreak Hill, Places in the Heart, Instrument of Blood). But this one is not in the same class with these other books.
Rating: 
Summary: Noir Novelist
Review: No other mystery writer today captures the essence of noir as well as Thomas Cook. The review amazon has pegged as their "Spotlight" review misses the point if this is the first of his books that they have read. His stories are more character driven than plot driven; they are more instrospective, moody, atmospheric, and for me, they never fall short. If the "Spotlight" reviewer didn't get the ending, it's because Mr. Cook's hallmark is that his clever intracies don't become evident until the end. He's almost impossible to outguess.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't go to bed until I finished--then I couldn't sleep
Review: One of my favorite authors, Thomas H. Cook, has given the mystery/suspense reader another gift. The story is hypnotizing and the writing superb. And, just when you think you know who did what when, the story takes another (totally plausible) turn. Read this book!
Rating:
Summary: High tension
Review: September 12, 1952. Albert Jay Smalls, an unassuming homeless man, has been arrested for strangling 8-year-old Cathy Lake to death in a park near the tunnel where he lives. But the police don't have enough evidence to hold him. If he won't confess in the next eleven hours, they'll have to let him go. All through the night detectives Norm Cohen and Jack Pierce interrogate him, seeking to crack his denials or at least come up with enough evidence to keep him locked up where he can't do any more harm. While they are at this -- and returning to his home town in search of clues and digging up the park for the girl's missing necklace -- people are busy elsewhere around the city. Eddie Lambrusco is collecting the night's garbage, worrying over his sick daughter and wishing his old pal Charlie was still with him. Police Chief Thomas Burke is by his son's hospital bed, waiting for him to die. A small-time thief is having his own personal money crisis. As the night wears on and the pressure increases, all of these threads are woven together into a resolution as horrific as it is unavoidable. THE INTERROGATION is truly hard to put down. At the beginning of each chapter is an old fashioned clock face reminding the reader of how many hours are left in the interrogation and stepping up the pressure as the characters (and reader) are driven ever closer to desperation. Cook has done a tremendous job of portraying his characters' motivations and playing on their strengths and weaknesses. I especially grew to identify with Jack Pierce, whose own young daughter was murdered and who thus has an even greater reason for promising Cathy's heartbroken mother he will bring her killer to justice. In this expertly plotted novel, which remains fast paced while laced with flashbacks, both the perpetrator and the ending are unguessable but expertly foreshadowed. If you enjoy high tension, well developed mysteries that read almost like a movie, THE INTERROGATION is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Thomas Cook is always good
Review: Since "The Chatham School House Affair," I've enjoyed Thomas Cook's books. Kind of quirky, they'll keep you going until the last page.
Rating: 
Summary: ???
Review: Sorry, folks, but this one's a stinker. A barely intelligible plot weaves its way to an entirely predictable yet unexplainable ending in this absolute mess of a novel by the usually stellar Thomas Cook. In a weak attempt to recapture the rapid sharp prose of Mickey Spillane, Cook feels as if he's wading slowly into a pool of sharks with this twisted tale of not one but two haunting murders of children ... still, the plot is unfinished, with a last crisp sentence that almost promises a follow-up that I'm not certain would find an audience after this forgettable outing. Note to Cook: while symbolic names (aka "Blunt," "Pierce," etc.) must work to underscore the central beat of the character, they're also dead giveaways to the real culprits here.
Rating:
Summary: A Stylistic Gem
Review: The Interrogation is a departure from Thomas H. Cook's terrific, but more leisurely recent thrillers. A hard-boiled, police procedural would seem an unlikely showcase for his elegant prose. Nonetheless, he has pulled it off. There are passages in this book as moving and gorgeously rendered as any you will read in any book in any genre. The plot is a twisting, turning labyrinth that holds our interest, but the memorable turns of phrase and the masterful use of language floating effortlessly above the sordid subject matter are what make us regret our arrival at the final moving sentence.
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