Rating: 
Summary: A Cerebral Beach Read
Review: "An American Killing" is for those who look for well-written beach books. Even though I don't read much fiction, I kept reading this crime novel to the end. Mary-Ann Tirone Smith has written a well-designed, well-researched story that broaches a few issues beyond the who-dunnit genre, namely crime theory, motherhood, politics, postmodernist philosophy, an insider's look at publishing, and--most intriguing--a study of the marriage of a woman who behaves with a man's independence. The heroine, a bestselling author who specializes in novelizing true murders, has as much bluster and vigor as any male detective. She's trained her teenaged children to do without her, and her husband, too. She leaves without permission, contacts them only when convenient, and offers them no guilt, no explanations, no lengthy telephone communications. Smith's best writing--of writing that is excellent throughout--details her forays alone to the family's Rhode Island beach cottage, and the dog, Buddy, that keeps her company. She also describes a dying industrial town and its unfortunate residents, a prison interview, an author's personal day in New York City, and the writer's life in Washington, DC, as though she's been there. She has a strange habit of not providing physical descriptions of the men in this story. And the sex is, well, perhaps an editor's suggestion; she skates over it like an embarrassment. But I like the relationships she describes. You see yourself in these scenes; she hits you in places you'll recognize. It's unusual for a private investigator to fall in love with the chief murder suspect, but this works. The effectiveness of Tirone Smith's story rests on unexpectedness. I quibble with the ending, which has the strong smell of change by an editor. This would have been a more powerful story if Tirone Smith had kept the ending I think she was leading us to: a better understanding of crimes of domestic violence, and the knowledge that we know least those we love best--Linda Donelson, author of "Out of Isak Dinesen: Karen Blixen's untold story"
Rating:
Summary: A Cerebral Beach Read
Review: "An American Killing" is for those who look for well-written beach books. Even though I don't read much fiction, I kept reading this crime novel to the end. Mary-Ann Tirone Smith has written a well-designed, well-researched story that broaches a few issues beyond the who-dunnit genre, namely crime theory, motherhood, politics, postmodernist philosophy, an insider's look at publishing, and--most intriguing--a study of the marriage of a woman who behaves with a man's independence. The heroine, a bestselling author who specializes in novelizing true murders, has as much bluster and vigor as any male detective. She's trained her teenaged children to do without her, and her husband, too. She leaves without permission, contacts them only when convenient, and offers them no guilt, no explanations, no lengthy telephone communications. Smith's best writing--of writing that is excellent throughout--details her forays alone to the family's Rhode Island beach cottage, and the dog, Buddy, that keeps her company. She also describes a dying industrial town and its unfortunate residents, a prison interview, an author's personal day in New York City, and the writer's life in Washington, DC, as though she's been there. She has a strange habit of not providing physical descriptions of the men in this story. And the sex is, well, perhaps an editor's suggestion; she skates over it like an embarrassment. But I like the relationships she describes. You see yourself in these scenes; she hits you in places you'll recognize. It's unusual for a private investigator to fall in love with the chief murder suspect, but this works. The effectiveness of Tirone Smith's story rests on unexpectedness. I quibble with the ending, which has the strong smell of change by an editor. This would have been a more powerful story if Tirone Smith had kept the ending I think she was leading us to: a better understanding of crimes of domestic violence, and the knowledge that we know least those we love best--Linda Donelson, author of "Out of Isak Dinesen: Karen Blixen's untold story"
Rating: 
Summary: A mesmerizing tale
Review: Denise Burke has reached the pinnacle of the successful DC woman. She is married to Nick, an individual who is Clinton's domestic affairs advisor (allegedly the word affair in his title means the entire country and is not just limited to young females), making him a member of the inner sanctum. Denise is having an affair of her own with Congressman Owen Hall. On top of the success of her personal life, Denise is the best selling author of true crime books. It is the latter two items that got Congressman Hall to ask Denise to investigate the triple murder in his hometown of New Caxton, Rhode Island so that she could ultimately write the true accounting. However, before she can begin her inquiries, Hall is found dead at a hooker's place with a Chinese cord sticking up his butt. Denise begins to receive pressure to drop her New England research and the subsequent book it should produce or become the next victim of an individual who prefers that Eddie Baines remain the convicted felon. AN AMERICAN KILLING is a witty look into high political society and its link to small town New England. The first person account moves briskly forward due to the cynical quips of Denise (that sounds like most voters today). The who-done-it is an interesting puzzle, but the novel gets its freshness from the interrelationships of the well designed characters. Though the conclusion is a grand canyon of a stretch, readers will enjoy this amateur sleuth cum political thriller, which humorously brings America into a nineties perspective. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: What happened to the plot?
Review: For 75 pages I was excited about this book, but like the Amazon reviewer who titled her review "dreadful," I couldn't get beyond the middle. The characters were unlikable and why was I supposed to care about those that were murdered? I couldn't really tell what the mystery was. Too many flashbacks within flashbacks. Give me Sue Grafton anyday. None of this trumped up political thriller junk.
Rating:
Summary: GOSSIPY AND GRIPPING, GLAMOUROUS AND GRITTY
Review: Gossipy and gripping, glamourous and gritty aren't contradictions in An American Killing but add zest to the mix in this intriguing multi-tiered thriller by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith. After four critically praised literary endeavors, including Masters Of Illusion (1994) and The Port Of Missing Men (1989), Ms. Smith has gracefully repaired to the thriller field. Her first effort in this genre is delivered with all the aplomb and style of an established master. Sure to garner new fans and plaudits for the author, An American Killing also gifts readers with one top-notch, skillfully conceived mystery. By choosing today's power-driven Washington, D.C. as her setting, the author establishes an immediacy that makes this chilling tale even more disturbing. Conversations with contemporary literati and weekends shared with Bill and Hillary satisfy a yen for insider scoops, while intelligent, probative comments regarding racism, politics, and marriage enrich the novel's narrative. Ms. Smith shows a special knack for revealing the intimate longings and protective responses of a bruised human heart. Smart and sardonic, Denise Burke is a true crime writer who has regularly snared bestseller list slots with her O. J. Simpson tell-all and revelations about murderous moms (think Susan Smith). Married to remote, rather oblivious Nick, a Clinton policy adviser, and mother of two almost unrealistically reliable and independent adolescents, she is privy to Washington's in-circle as well as Literary Guild soirees. Upon meeting attractive, charismatic Congressman Owen Hall, Denise is, in this order: impressed, involved, in bed with him. Suggesting that a black man, Eddie Baines, may have been wrongly convicted of wantonly stabbing the Montevallo family to death, Owen asks her to look into the murders. The crime site was his hometown of New Caxton, Rhode Island, a dried up industrial juncture that he describes as an idyllic New England community where a premeditated murder has never taken place and the street signs are red in honor of the football team. Unable to resist either her blue blooded lover or his request, it is not too long before Denise discovers a hint of "the violence that lays just beneath the surface of the guileless picture of New Caxton that Owen Hall had drawn." Commuting between Alexandria, Virginia, and her beach house, a safe half-hour from New Caxton, Denise's skills as a researcher begin to uncover the subterfuge, the cunning deception practiced by the entire community. When Owen does an abrupt turn-around and asks her to forget about the case, Denise isn't surprised. By that time she has discovered that his concern for a fellow man was prompted not by charity but by his own cowardice and abysmal past. A past that has somehow caused the death of a likable young reporter who was also looking into the case, and placed Denise's life in jeopardy. With Denise Burke Ms. Smith has created a witty, plucky and thoroughly likeable heroine whom we'd like to meet again. And, when she returns, it is hoped she'll bring Buddy, one of the most lovable canines to hit fiction since Asta, as well as her best friend FBI Agent Poppy Rice, she of the wide blue eyes, cynical repartee, and legs that stretch from here to Tuesday. Fresh as the latest Web report with show-no-mercy pace and crackling dialogue, An American Killing is what every thriller should be - absorbing, intelligent, suspenseful and a terrific makes you sorry-when-it's-over tale.
Rating:
Summary: GOSSIPY AND GRIPPING, GLAMOUROUS AND GRITTY
Review: Gossipy and gripping, glamourous and gritty aren't contradictions in An American Killing but add zest to the mix in this intriguing multi-tiered thriller by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith. After four critically praised literary endeavors, including Masters Of Illusion (1994) and The Port Of Missing Men (1989), Ms. Smith has gracefully repaired to the thriller field. Her first effort in this genre is delivered with all the aplomb and style of an established master. Sure to garner new fans and plaudits for the author, An American Killing also gifts readers with one top-notch, skillfully conceived mystery. By choosing today's power-driven Washington, D.C. as her setting, the author establishes an immediacy that makes this chilling tale even more disturbing. Conversations with contemporary literati and weekends shared with Bill and Hillary satisfy a yen for insider scoops, while intelligent, probative comments regarding racism, politics, and marriage enrich the novel's narrative. Ms. Smith shows a special knack for revealing the intimate longings and protective responses of a bruised human heart. Smart and sardonic, Denise Burke is a true crime writer who has regularly snared bestseller list slots with her O. J. Simpson tell-all and revelations about murderous moms (think Susan Smith). Married to remote, rather oblivious Nick, a Clinton policy adviser, and mother of two almost unrealistically reliable and independent adolescents, she is privy to Washington's in-circle as well as Literary Guild soirees. Upon meeting attractive, charismatic Congressman Owen Hall, Denise is, in this order: impressed, involved, in bed with him. Suggesting that a black man, Eddie Baines, may have been wrongly convicted of wantonly stabbing the Montevallo family to death, Owen asks her to look into the murders. The crime site was his hometown of New Caxton, Rhode Island, a dried up industrial juncture that he describes as an idyllic New England community where a premeditated murder has never taken place and the street signs are red in honor of the football team. Unable to resist either her blue blooded lover or his request, it is not too long before Denise discovers a hint of "the violence that lays just beneath the surface of the guileless picture of New Caxton that Owen Hall had drawn." Commuting between Alexandria, Virginia, and her beach house, a safe half-hour from New Caxton, Denise's skills as a researcher begin to uncover the subterfuge, the cunning deception practiced by the entire community. When Owen does an abrupt turn-around and asks her to forget about the case, Denise isn't surprised. By that time she has discovered that his concern for a fellow man was prompted not by charity but by his own cowardice and abysmal past. A past that has somehow caused the death of a likable young reporter who was also looking into the case, and placed Denise's life in jeopardy. With Denise Burke Ms. Smith has created a witty, plucky and thoroughly likeable heroine whom we'd like to meet again. And, when she returns, it is hoped she'll bring Buddy, one of the most lovable canines to hit fiction since Asta, as well as her best friend FBI Agent Poppy Rice, she of the wide blue eyes, cynical repartee, and legs that stretch from here to Tuesday. Fresh as the latest Web report with show-no-mercy pace and crackling dialogue, An American Killing is what every thriller should be - absorbing, intelligent, suspenseful and a terrific makes you sorry-when-it's-over tale.
Rating:
Summary: An up-all-night thriller with a killer edge of wit
Review: I can easily see why this book has been proclaimed one of 1998's best. "An American Killing" is a terrific read with a master's touch. The author's character development is exceptional and the story line one of the best I have read in a good while. If you're looking for a book to keep you company for a night, this is the one. I couldn't put it down until I had finished. The end may surprise but will not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: A Sure Winner
Review: I can easily see why this book has been proclaimed one of 1998's best. "An American Killing" is a terrific read with a master's touch. The author's character development is exceptional and the story line one of the best I have read in a good while. If you're looking for a book to keep you company for a night, this is the one. I couldn't put it down until I had finished. The end may surprise but will not disappoint.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising!
Review: I found this to be a fabulous read. The characters, especially the protagonist, were well-developed and believable. There were so many surprises and twists during the second-half of the book that I was reading with my mouth open. The women are the stronger characters for a nice change. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.
Rating:
Summary: Surprising!
Review: I found this to be a fabulous read. The characters, especially the protagonist, were well-developed and believable. There were so many surprises and twists during the second-half of the book that I was reading with my mouth open. The women are the stronger characters for a nice change. I will definitely be looking for more from this author.
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