Madman on a Drum: A McKenzie Novel
by: David Housewright
Published by: St. Martin's Minotaur Press
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Reviewed by Patty Inglish
Rushmore McKenzie is a modern-day John Creasey’s Toff, the rich Richard Rollison. McKenzie is a millionaire that solves crimes and helps people on his own terms like Rollison; however, he operates in the Twin Cities, rather than in London. He also sports an expensive Audi that suffers regular bullet holes that keeps his mechanic in business.
Victoria Dunstan, just 12, is abducted by a masked man while her fourth-grade sister watches. Sister Katie runs home to tell parents Shelby and Bobby, the St. Paul homicide chief. Bobby calls the FBI and McKenzie for help, and an operations station is set up in the frantic Dunstans’ home. A million-dollar ransom is demanded by phone from a voice somehow familiar, despite its computerized disguise. The caller will accept the cash only from McKenzie.
A strange scavenger hunt ensues through parking lots, warehouses, old cars, lakes, and beaches to determine how to gather the cash and where to drop the ransom. During the hunt, a mysterious underworld contract is put out on McKenzie’s life. Victoria is recovered, but one of her kidnappers is murdered, while the hunt leads deeper into the pit of crime, prison, and unexpected persons.
Action escalates throughout this book, McKenzie running faster and more frequently on an increasingly injured pair of legs. He runs through ravines, taverns, streets, and a gauntlet of ghetto hit men, pit bulls, automatic weapons, and bizarre characters on both sides of the law. This modern-day Toff presents as a real person, with a running inner commentary that helps him navigate his cases and a number of feelings about justice, loyalty, and love. He makes mistakes, but recovers very well in the end. He runs through descriptions of the Twin Cities region that are poignantly believable as a portrait of the Metroplex.
Top-notch overall, the only thing I would change in the plot is a set of references to outdated means for profiling a liar.
This crime story is an engaging fast-paced read for older teens and adults, despite some swear words, likely be used by criminals on the streets today.
Armchair Interviews says: A crime story set in Minneapolis/St. Paul, written by an excellent storyteller.
Author’s Web site: http://www.DavidHousewright.com
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