NONE OF YOU ARE SAFE
“KILLER”: Jack Queen has been exonerated and freed from prison thanks to retired LAPD officer Cato Hightower. But when guilt gnaws at Jack, he admits: “I actually did it.” To which Hightower responds: “Yeah, no kidding.” You see, the ex-cop has a special job in mind for the ex-con…
THE GIRL DETECTIVE: Fifteen-year-old Matilda Finnerty has been handed a potential death sentence in the form of a leukaemia diagnosis. But that’s not going to stop her from tackling the most important mystery of her life: Is her father guilty of murder?
GENE JEANIE: Jeanie Hightower mends family trees for a living, but the genealogist is unable to repair her own marriage. And her soon-to-be ex may have entangled her in a scheme that has drawn the bloody wrath of…
THE BEAR: A prolific serial killer who disappeared forty years ago, who is only now emerging from hibernation when the conditions are just right. And this time, the California Bear is not content to hunt in the shadows

I didn’t know what to make of ‘California Bear’ at first. I was a little dazed by how bizarre it was. The tone was somewhere between Don Winslow and early Carl Hiaasen. The story, told from the point of view of four characters, each of whom was going through a major change in their lives and none of whom are at the centre of the personality bell curve, was intriguing and original. I could see that the intent was to satirise the True Crime industry. There was definitely crime but very little interest in truth.

We followed an ex-cop who got a killer’s conviction overturned on a technicality so that he could get a cut of the compensation payout, we have the California Bear, a ‘retired’ serial killer who was never caught but who, in his old age, wants to be given credit for his ‘work’ and we have a Hollywood documentary producer who wants to make a big sale to the streaming companies but who says all the right words about justice and truth and respecting the victims.

Moslty, I liked the dark humour but I was uncomfortable with being in the Bear’s head. He wasn’t one of Hiaassen’s larger-than-life- but-not-as-nasty-as-they-seem villains. He was a sadistic misogynist who still hungered for the rush of the kill. That didn’t seem very funny to me.

I kept reading the book because I wanted to hear more from The Girl Detective. She’s the tween daughter of the man whose murder conviction has just been overturned. She’s smart, organised and passionate about doing the research to find out the truth about the murder her father was jailed for. She’s also in hospital undergoing chemotherapy for an aggressive form of leukaemia that is likely to kill her. She lifted the book for me. She was brave, bright and had a dry sense of humour.

Then the tone of the book changed. It became less of a satire and more of a love-letter to the bravery of The Girl Detective. The California Bear transformed in interesting and unexpected ways. The women in the story came to the fore and started to subvert the agendas of the men around them. The Girl Detective started to put together what had happened and what was going to happen and did what she could to bring order to the chaos.

I was able to settle into the humour then. I had no idea where the story was going but I was happy to be along for the ride. I liked the fast pace of the story, the convoluted twists in the plot that linked everyone together in unpredictable ways and the unabashed confidence of the larger-than-life characters.

I was sad to get to the end of the book because I started to like some of the characters by then. The ending was neat and tidy and perhaps just a little to happily-ever-after but it was done with style and heart and it made me smile.

I recommend the audiobook version of ‘California Bear’. It’s done with two narrators and delivered with energy. I also recommend listening to the author’s afterword where he explains how his own daughter’s illness affected the novel.