Thu 3 Nov 2016
Reviewed by Barry Gardner: EDNA BUCHANAN – Contents Under Pressure.
Posted by Steve under Bibliographies, Lists & Checklists , Characters , Reviews[2] Comments
EDNA BUCHANAN – Contents Under Pressure. Britt Montero #1. Hyperion, hardcover, 1992. Avon, paperback, 1994.
Buchanan is a Pulitzer-winning Miami Herald re-porter, and her novel has the immediacy of a newspaper story. It begins with a Rodney King-like episode, different in that the victim is a respected community leader, and he dies.
The police attempt a cover-up, but Britt, a blonde, green-eyed Cuban American, exposes it. One thing leads to another until the town explodes in a series of riots. Britt believes that the whole truth hasn’t come out, and keeps digging; eventually she uncovers a murderer and puts her life at risk.
Pro: the pace is breathtaking at times, and Britt is an engaging character. Con: the narrative occasionally loses its focus, and the murderer’s actions and motivations are the silliest and least believable I’ve encountered in a long while. A good friend of mine liked this considerably, but the ending ruined it for me.
The Britt Montero series —
1. Contents Under Pressure (1992)
2. Miami, It’s Murder (1994)
3. Suitable for Framing (1995)
4. Act of Betrayal (1996)
5. Margin of Error (1997)
6. Garden of Evil (1999)
7. You Only Die Twice (2001)
8. The Ice Maiden (2002)
9. Love Kills (2007)
November 4th, 2016 at 9:35 am
I read several of her books – Britt Montero and the Cold Case Squad (in one book, they were all in it), and they weren’t bad. But I still say the ones I’d recommend are her non-fiction books about her years as an investigative reporter in Miami: THE CORPSE HAD A FAMILIAR FACE and NEVER LET THEM SEE YOU CRY.
Both are compelling reads. None of her fiction books live up to that.
November 4th, 2016 at 11:54 am
I’ve not read any of them, and with all due apologies to the author, I’ve not been tempted. I’m not a big fan, I guess, of novels based too closely on real life happenings. In Buchanan’s case I may be very wrong about this.