Sunday, September 28, 2008

Donovan & Son-Michael Jahn

Donovan & Son
Michael Jahn
Five Star, Oct 2008, $25.95
ISBN: 1594142661

With plenty of money from his wife, former NYPD legendary Special Investigations Chief Detective Bill Donovan left the force to spend time with their wheelchair bound son Danny and seeking a cure that would enable his offspring to walk away from the “Beast”. Ironically, Danny thinks of his wheelchair as a commanding chariot not a confinement.

Bill learns of genetic research conducted by Riverside University geneticist Dr. Patrick McGowan, who vanished without a trace over two decades ago; he feels the scientist might be able to help Danny walk. At Riverside, DONOVAN & SON make inquiries, but no one knows what happened to McGowan, why he vanished or where he is now. They explore the boxes in the tunnels beneath the school’s library only to hear a scream. The father and son find janitor Gregorio Paz dying. Donovan’s friend and replacement as Special Investigations chief Brian Moskowitz investigates the murder of Paz even as the retiree finds odd clues that lead back to the Manhattan Project, the Cuban missile crisis, his other son police officer Lewis Rodriguez and Lewis’s mother bartender Rosalie Rodriguez.

The mystery takes a back seat to the extended complicated relationships and the tour of mostly uptown. The story line is driven by Donovan whose past alongside that of Riverside resurfaces; whatever he does he knows nothing will remain the same. Fans of the series will appreciate the twentieth-fifth anniversary thriller with the tunnels serving as metaphors of life as well as existing under the city colleges such as Lehman College when it was called Hunter-Bronx.

Harriet Klausner

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