Rating: 
Summary: Let The Killings Begin: Everyone Dies!
Review: "Today he'd argued with a woman he adored, seen the murdered body of a man he liked, and found a horse he loved maliciously destroyed. It was a crummy way to start a vacation." (Page 19)Being a police officer and a target of a smart killer with a score to settle has long been a hallmark of police oriented mystery fiction. However, rarely has it been done so well as in this novel, latest in the series featuring Kevin Kerney. With Lieutenant Colonel Sara Brannon, his wife, home on maternity leave from the Army, Santa Fe Police Chief Kevin' Kerney's thoughts involve the construction of their new home and the pending arrival almost any day of his son. He is supposed to be on an often delayed and much needed vacation. That is until the killings begin. First it is a prominent attorney, Jack Potter who is shot in the chest and left to die on the sidewalk in front of the county court house. Then Kerney finds his beloved horse, Soldier, dead after being shot three times in the stomach. Then the dead rats and the notes threatening Kerney and his family begin to appear. Killing Kerney fast wouldn't bring the pleasure of making him suffer, as he will while the killer circles closer and closer killing innocent victims. As the killer moves closer, targeting his family and the body count climbs, Kerney and his investigative team lag far behind until the final inevitable violent confrontation. As in most novels of this type the reader is quickly introduced to the killer. The action and the viewpoint move constantly back and forth between the killer, Kerney and other characters. As such there is zero suspense as to who the killer is. What is unknown are the reasons why and whether or not he can be stopped in time. Why this novel works and works so well is the fact that as he has done in his other novels the author once again continues to build on the complex characters already established while creating a complicated mystery with multiple storylines. That coupled with his usual strong sense of pacing, action, and the occasional twist creates another page tuner in the best sense of the concept. This simply may be his best book yet in the series, which just keeps getting better and better.
Rating: 
Summary: Formula Writing
Review: After about one fourth of the way into this book I began skimming pages and still easily followed the plot. The author has written some fairly decent books but this is not one of them. This book is evidence of formula writing at its worst. The plot is too ambitious with gratitious carnage - cumbersome transition - characters not well developed.
Rating: 
Summary: Series in full stride
Review: Being familiar with the genre of serial mysteries and having read a number of novels in this series, I think this work is pretty much at the apex of what a series can do. McGarrity knows his characters and where they fit in a complex relationship pattern. But then so must his readers. In this novel we see events that are rooted in a complex past.(For example, coming cold to the novel, a reader would be unfamiliar with Kearney's son, Clayton Istee, whose mother and Kearney were lovers in college. Born while an unsuspecting Kearney was serving in Vietnam, Clayton is resolving feelings of abandonment.)McGarrity handles this as well as possible which is why I consider this his best presentation so far, but extra-textal information is a limitation. The novel is primarily a police procedural novel, although the writer uses a sort of fractured narrative - not quite "meanwhile back at the ranch"- as he advances the plot scattered over three or four sites. (NO UNITY OF PLACE HERE) As his characters cell-phone, radio and fax each other, the culprit lurks and listens. He is a shadowy presence, without deep psychological development. Nor does one find the kind of powerful descriptive passages of a writer like James Lee Burke, after all this is a similar but slightly different approach having a continuing character like Robicheaux but with emphasis on procedure. Some aspects of this novel suggest a couple directions the writer may consider. Certainly Clayton Istee may be one path. We have seen how Hillerman moved from Leaphorn to Chee. Kearney's M.P. wife, Sara, now mother but still Lt Colonel (due for promotion) is a possible developmental chain. And Kearney's new ranch - with its nearby wild country - might be a scene of a reprise with the south of the border drug lords he has tangled with before. How long McGarrity can sustain this level and these characters is anyone's guess, but if you are not on board yet, come on.
Rating:
Summary: Best 'who-done-it' in the series
Review: Even though this novel is a stand alone book within the Kevin Kerney series of novels, it would probably help to read a few of the others first, only to flesh out some background history on some of the characters. I think that's beneficial only because the murders that plague Santa Fe, NM and Kevin Kerney's department hits close to home. First a seemingly random, yet planned murder of a gay attorney in town has the community and the police baffled. As the story progresses and the body count increases, it soon becomes evident that the murderer is singling out and sending a very private yet cryptic message to Kerney. Kerney then realizes that his pregnant wife, and his estranged son may also be targets, and the clues are vague at best. This is no ordinary killer, this one has spent a lot of time crafting his trade and will have the reader guessing for quite sometime on who's next and where we are going. That's the testament to this novel. You can really empathize with Kerney as he begins to feel helpless for not only himself but those few remaining close to him. The novel does a great job in pacing the action and guesswork, and you'd be surprised how fluid it moves along, all the while the bodies start stacking up. The only issue I had that prevented me from assigning 5 stars was the very last chapter. After the climax, which was a little short after such a wonderful buildup, the last chapter jumped the reader a few weeks forward and everything was back to normal...too quickly and done within only a few brief pages.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: Everyone dies is an excellent police procedural novel--well-written and compelling, and (for me at least), had the fresh twist of being set in Santa Fe, instead of the usual gritty New York/LA/Boston/Chicago setting that you so very often see. Police Chief Kevin Kerney thinks he is about to take a well-deserved vacation with his very pregnant wife, when a series of murders and other horrors draw him back to the job. Kerney begins to suspect, and rightly so, that he and his loved ones may be the ultimate target, because, as the assailant keeps telling him "everyone dies." This novel is intricate and well-plotted, a very enjoyable read.
Rating:
Summary: Another book worth reading from a great series
Review: Everyone Dies is the newest in a great series, but not the best of the series. We get the continuation of Chief Kerney's relationship with his often absent wife, his recently discovered son and other characters who have grown familiar as the series has developed. There are a lot of violent murders and the gradual introduction to the murderer as he pursues his agenda. It is the good police work and quick analysis of the evidence as the case takes unexpected twists and turns that keeps the reader's attention. It is a exciting, quick read that I would recommend to anyone who likes a good mystery. Skip some of the poorly written "best sellers" that everyone is reading and dig into one of the better written mystery series and you will be rewarded. I would recommend reading the earlier books in the series first to get the background on these characters. I have been a fan of the series since Tularosa and will continue to read any books by Michael McGarrity since they are well written and take place in areas of the Southwest with which I am very familiar.
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully surprised!
Review: I had never heard of Michael McGarrity, and found the cover and the plot summary both a bit off-putting, and wasn't expecting to like this book. I was delightfully surprised to discover that unlike many writers in the murder, mayhem and mystery genre, McGarrity didn't slipslide at all into the murky depths of horrifying psychotic evil, gratuitous garbage-language,-sex,-blood,-gore and cruelty, and wallow there for several hundred pages. He wrote a book about a psychotic killer, yes, but he didn't allow his writing to sink to the level of the killer. It's a very good book with breadth and depth even with a "less-is-more" control over the verbiage, which I like and respect. His story line and characters are engaging. The mystery is compellingly presented. I finished it and rushed to my nearest bookstore to buy all the other Mike McGarrity murder, mayhem and mystery books and have since read them and found them as engaging as Everybody Dies! Keep on writing, Mr. McGarrity!
Rating:
Summary: Delightfully surprised!
Review: I had never heard of Michael McGarrity, and found the cover and the plot summary both a bit off-putting, and wasn't expecting to like this book. I was delightfully surprised to discover that unlike many writers in the murder, mayhem and mystery genre, McGarrity didn't slipslide at all into the murky depths of horrifying psychotic evil, gratuitous garbage-language,-sex,-blood,-gore and cruelty, and wallow there for several hundred pages. He wrote a book about a psychotic killer, yes, but he didn't allow his writing to sink to the level of the killer. It's a very good book with breadth and depth even with a "less-is-more" control over the verbiage, which I like and respect. His story line and characters are engaging. The mystery is compellingly presented. I finished it and rushed to my nearest bookstore to buy all the other Mike McGarrity murder, mayhem and mystery books and have since read them and found them as engaging as Everybody Dies! Keep on writing, Mr. McGarrity!
Rating:
Summary: So-so McGarrity, But Always a Superior Mystery
Review: I've been an avid reader of McGarrity's Kevin Kerney police novels since the first, because he is a highly skilled writer, the plots move quickly and smoothly, the characters are quirky and intuitive, Chief Kerney is very empathetic, and the scenic descriptions take me right back to New Mexico state. Despite the provocations of sociopathic killers, Kerney always remains laconic and cool, in control of his emotions and, seemingly, the events. For good or ill in its attractiveness to the reader, the author never ratchets terror high, even when a killer stewed in revenge, as here, intends it.
My total enjoyment of this story had only two blemishes. Midway through, the author mistakenly let us see how the murderer is planting a false trail (rather than let us make that chilling conclusion). Rather than a clever twist in the plot, this view quite took the rising suspense out of the next 50 pages for me. (Perhaps McGarrity should be excused, in view of the subsequent shocking twist he gives to the "false" suspect.) Second, the ending was too rushed, both as a scene and relative to the intricate build up to it. The climax was too vaguely described, leaving me in doubt as to who had their finger on the final trigger. Minor disappointments are that we never do find out all the ways in which the killer got his incredibly detailed info on his targets; and Kerney allows his wife, Sara Brannon, a military policewoman, to insist on committing a great breakdown in discipline, leading to a more dangerous final confrontation.
Thankfully, this is the first time McGarrity has used the plot device--targeting and terrorizing the hero's family--that, repeated, turned me right off of later Cornwall and Patterson mystery series. I'd not like to lose McGarrity, too. The art on recent covers is too generic, urban even, which the horse-loving rancher/policeman Kerney is not at all about; the art should return to New Mexican scenes of the earlier and strongly atmospheric books, please.
Rating:
Summary: Nearly everyone dies
Review: Kevin Kerney is chief of police in Santa Fe, his wife is due to give birth to their first son and he is building a house. More than enough to cope with without some oddball coming after you with a vengeance, threatening to kill your whole family. And this guy is serious and deranged: people and animals around Kevin are being murdered and his grown-up son's house is blown to pieces. And all the while nearly the whole police force of Santa Fe is involved in trying to track the killer down before he can murder their boss and his family. But the guy is smart and not easy to catch: he has made quite a few false tracks. Until things start to go wrong for him and slowly but surely his plan is starting to go to pieces. This was my first encounter with this series starring Kevin Kerney. He is definitely a very real life police man and the way in which his team tackles the problems is also very believable, which can be explained by the fact that the author was a deputy sheriff in Santa Fe is a very probable explanation for this. The plot is ingenious, even though the reader knows in the end who the killer is. And the descriptions of the landscape, though not disrupting the flow of the story, make you long to go to New Mexico to see for yourself. A very enjoyable read.
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