In Deep

Frequently intriguing but ultimately disappointing, this first novel opens with the discovery of a woman's nude, sexually mutilated body on a Southern California beach. Ace homicide detective Eustes Tully is assigned to the case. Meanwhile, aboard a ship somewhere at sea, a character named Mother views photos of the murder supplied by a man identified as Sonny. Then the focus returns to the middle-aged Tully, who has something of a mother fixation. So does South American drug kingpin Santiago Diaz, introduced in a second story line; he is linked to ex-cop and failed insurance investigator Mitch Spencer. After a second murder victim is found, Tully is unexpectedly switched to the investigation of Diaz's drug operation, where he meets up with Spencer, an old pal from police academy days. Tully makes extraordinarily exact deductions about the killer's motivations, based on knowledge and evidence that do not warrant his accuracy. Meanwhile coincidences pile up and plots intersect, yielding a tangle of confusion not even the particularly nice twist at the end can unravel. (Sept.)