False Positive / Andrew Grant

3 out of 5 stars

Alabama detective Cooper Devereaux makes no apologies for his luxe lifestyle or the way he does his job. Most cops haven’t lived the kind of life he has—starting out as an orphan, raised by a grizzled cop savior—and most don’t use his kind of high-risk tactics. But he may have met his match in fellow detective Jan Loflin, who’s fresh off a long undercover stint in Vice when they’re partnered on a case that will test them both beyond their direst nightmares.

A seven-year-old boy has disappeared from his home in the Birmingham suburbs. But the more Devereaux digs into the missing child’s background, the more he discovers about his own, eventually shaking loose a series of harrowing truths—about bloodlines, mass murder, obsession, and what two damaged detectives have in common with the innocent victim they’re so desperate to save.

Perhaps I have reached the point in my reading life where I have read too many thrillers. I found myself reading this book mostly to analyze the plot twists and the characters, but not really with enthusiasm. Perhaps I’ve become jaded.

I was halfway through this book when I went to a conference at which Andrew Grant was a guest of honor. I went to a session where each of the guests did a reading—and I found Mr. Grant to be a charming guy. All afternoon, it seemed that I kept accidentally catching his eye and he always smiled an amused smile. I became rather paranoid—“Does he know that I don’t love his work? Does he guess that I really prefer his wife’s novels?” Finally I calmed down and realized that he was just a friendly author mingling at a writers’ conference and I relaxed.

I returned to False Positive with greater sympathy and enjoyed the last half more than I had the first half. I was quite satisfied with the ending—until the last two pages. They made me want to pick up the next book in the series against my better judgement! Well played, Mr. Grant, well played.