Ex-homicide detective Oak O'Clair retired from the Detroit
PD and moved to Pompano Beach, Florida, where he now owns a
motel. He runs it with his young girlfriend, Virginia, and
life is good. That is until he discovers the dead body of a
woman posed in one of his lounge chairs on the beach. When
another woman is killed in the same way and with a similar
modus operandi to a Detroit investigation years ago that
O'Clair handled, he's sure there has to be a connection.
But what is it?
To find out, O'Clair starts working with the local police,
which soon has him returning to Detroit to figure out the
link. Was there something he missed in the earlier case
that may have put the wrong man behind bars for life? Or is
it a copycat killer? O'Clair will not stop until he has the
answers, especially after Virginia is kidnapped by the
killer.
For an ex-cop with no authority, O'Clair is sure able to
get a lot of info as he practically takes over the
investigation, both in Florida and Detroit. The bouncing
back and forth in the timeline, both in the past and the
present, can be a bit disconcerting, at times. EYES CLOSED
TIGHT by Peter Leonard, son of Elmore
Leonard, is a fast read with enough red herrings and
suspenseful twists to keep readers' interest engaged until
the surprising conclusion.
O'Clair is a former Detroit homicide investigator who now
owns a motel in Pompano Beach, Florida in his retirement. He
runs the place with his much younger girlfriend, Virginia,
who's a knockout and can fix anything. One morning, he’s
cleaning up after the previous night’s partiers when he sees
a lovely young woman stretched out asleep on a lounge chair.
He shakes her gently. Then he touches her neck and feels for
a pulse. There isn't one. Her skin is cold, body starting to
stiffen, definitely in the early stages of rigor.
When a second girl is murdered, O'Clair knows someone is
trying to send him a message. The way the girls are killed
reminds O'Clair of a case he investigated years earlier. Now
convinced the Pompano murders are related, O'Clair returns
to Detroit Police Homicide to review the murder file and try
to figure out what he might have missed.
And when Virginia is kidnapped by the killer, the stakes
grow exponentially higher.