No Place of Safety

Rating:
Summary: Disappointingly, one of Barnard's lesser efforts
Review: I've thoroughly enjoyed past Barnard books, but this one left me flat. He's too skilled a writer not to have some effective passages, but the story and characters were underdeveloped. His social commentary regarding homeless kids is pointed, but I missed his dark, satiric humor. The mystery of the stabber is solved, but ironically, the resolution doesn't really contribute to any of the characters' development, leaving me curiously uninvolved with them. Only Midge stood out with any vividness. All this and a lack of psychological suspense makes this a readable but blah experience.