The Reign of the Kingfisher

Fans of superhero tales will relish Martinson’s energetic debut, in which the Kingfisher legend looms large over Chicago 30 years after the shadowy vigilante supposedly died. The city mourned and thousands attended his high-profile funeral, but debate persists on whether the superhero really died. Also at issue is whether the Kingfisher was the consummate crime fighter, dispatching bad guys who deserved their fate—or a criminal himself who took the law into his own hands. In a video sent anonymously to the police, a masked man shoots one of several hostages dead and threatens to kill more of them unless the police admit that they forced the Kingfisher to fake his death. Three strangers—retired journalist Marcus Waters, who wrote a book about him; policewoman Lucinda Tillman, whose father admired Kingfisher; and Wren, a hacker affiliated with the activist group Liber-teens—unite in an effort to find out the truth. Martinson ratchets up the tension and keeps the suspense high to the end. Readers will eagerly await his next novel. [em]Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (Mar.) [/em]