Review: Downstate - Jeffery Deaver

Not long ago, I read and enjoyed the first novel by Jeffery Deaver to feature Illinois Department of Criminal Investigations agent Constant Marlowe, THE RULE OF THREES. Amazon calls it a novella, but it’s actually a novel. (Yes, I’m still harping on that.)

Deaver’s second Constant Marlowe novel, DOWNSTATE, is shorter but still the length of, say, an Ace Double. (Probably not too many people who work at Amazon are familiar with Ace Doubles, I’m guessing.) In this one, Marlowe travels to a small, agricultural town in pursuit of an information broker with ties to the mob. But while she’s there, she foils an attempted armed robbery at a convenience store and stumbles into what may be an even more sinister case. It’s a dangerous case, too, but Marlowe, who is smart and tough—a former professional boxer, in fact—is a match for the people who want her dead.

As always in a Deaver novel, there are plot twists galore. In these yarns, seldom is anything what it appears to be at first. If the twists in DOWNSTATE aren’t quite as sharp and clever as they are in most of Deaver’s work—and they’re not—they’re still surprising enough to be entertaining.

It helps that Deaver is a good writer who knows how to keep things moving along at a brisk pace. The criminal schemes in this book reminded me of the sort of things Jack Reacher usually stumbles into, but I much prefer Deaver’s writing. Also, Constant Marlowe is an engaging protagonist, even if she’s not all that likable at times. I hope Deaver continues writing these short novels about her because I’ll certainly continue reading them. For now, this one is available only in e-book and audio editions.