Crime solving is tough enough for those with all their faculties, but it's even harder for 73-year-old Jack Lehman, a retired police detective in an unnamed U.S. city, who may be in the early stages of Alzheimer's in Shubin's uneven 13th novel (after 2002's A Matter of Fear
). A phone call from a former informant alerts Lehman to a major crime—a theft of more than half a million dollars. Only trouble is that Lehman can't remember the informant's name or who was robbed and didn't write any of it down. Plagued by fears and doubted by everyone (cops, family, neighbors) except a freelance writer, Lehman follows almost forgotten instincts that lead him to a gang he once busted as well as to murders, deceptions and betrayals that perversely reinvigorate his mind even as they endanger him. Lehman is the only character who emerges with any clarity, and given the difficulty of assessing his perspective, that's not enough to shed much light on the crime or its eventual solution. (Dec.)
