cover image The Fort

The Fort

Aric Davis. Amazon/Thomas & Mercer, $14.95 trade paper (264p) ISBN 978-1-611099-39-3

A storyline dependent on the tired cliché of a psychotic Vietnam veteran swims upstream from the start, and this thriller from Davis (Rough Men) set in 1987 Michigan isn’t up to the challenge. This time, the crazy is Matt Hooper, obsessed with his younger sister, Amy, who disappeared when she was 16 while he was fighting overseas. The trauma caused by her disappearance leads him to abduct, rape, and murder women who resemble her. As long as he preys on prostitutes, no one pays much attention, but the police become involved when the latest “Amy” turns out to be 16-year-old high school student Molly Peterson, who was only pretending to be a prostitute in order to lure men to a hotel and rob them. Tim, Scott, and Luke, adolescent boys from Molly’s neighborhood, begin their own search after they spot Hooper dragging her into the woods. Davis’s account of the boys’ subsequent coming-of-age is as routine as his characterization of the villain. (June)