Home Body

Rating:
Summary: McMorrow discovers that no good deed goes unpunished.
Review: Boyle shows fine form in his eighth novel to feature wise cracking Maine newspaperman Jack McMorrow. This time out, the tale is more personal, as the action doesn't stem from Jack's pursuit of a hot news story, but rather from a simple act of kindness on his part. Traveling to Bangor, Maine, Jack gives a ride to a homeless teenager he met earlier that day through his girlfriend, social service worker Roxanne Masterson. Because of that gesture, Jack subsequently becomes embroiled in a sixteen-year-old unsolved murder case; he also finds his altruistic motives in helping the teenager being questioned by skeptical police and child welfare workers.

Home Body finds McMorrow at a crossroads in his personal life, as his significant other Roxanne is mere months away from delivering his baby. The book itself is deeply concerned with responsibilities of parenthood, and the inherent difficulties of raising a child, as Jack comes to realize the damage parents can inflict on their progeny through his experiences with the runaways who feature prominently in the book. Seeing their sorry state, and realizing that even the most well meaning of parents often fail to connect with their children, causes him grave concern about his own impending fatherhood. It's amazing how subtly Boyle raises these points amid the often harrowing action of the novel; distracted by the those sequences, and by Jack's trials and tribulations, readers will only realize later that Boyle has also been making them think.

Rating:
Summary: exciting crime thriller
Review: He was a hotshot reporter for the New York Times but now Jack McMorrow freelances for some New England papers and works as a copy editor for the Maine Clarion because his lover is pregnant and they need the medical benefits. Jack and Roxanne see some older kids beating up someone younger. Jack breaks it up and tries to get Rocky to talk to him but he runs away. Roxanne says Rocky seems troubled but warns Jack not to get involve because they will soon have their own baby to worry about.

When Jack goes home, he finds Rocky there and feeds him but Rocky disappears when the police show up. Jack tracks him down and from the little Rocky says he's afraid to go home because of his step-father but misses his mother very much. The step-father tracks down Jack and their confrontation makes the reporter believe that he wants to find Rocky because the kid knows something that could get the old man in trouble. In the meantime, Jack protects Rocky, deals with the police who think he might be a child molester and the killer of a young teen who befriended the lad.

Gerry Boyle has written an exciting crime thriller with a protagonist who looks like a suspect because he wants to help a young person in trouble. It is a sad commentary on society that a Samaritan is looked upon with suspicion by the authorities. The family secret that Rocky discovers starts a domino affect that leads to kidnapping, suicide, and murder, with the hero smack in the middle of the situation. HOME BODY is well written, believable and has more twists and turns than a roller coaster.

Harriet Klausner