To describe Gunn's (Five Card Stud, etc.) fourth Hines novel as outstanding may be an understatement. Its prose is crisp as a cracker. On a typical cold, gray February day in Rutherford, Minn., everybody seems to be in a bad mood. Chief of Detectives Jake Hines's lover has inexplicably blown up at him and walked out. Hines's boss, Chief McCafferty, is forced to plan a retirement party for an officer no one likes. The department is in the throes of a computerization beset by bugs. And suddenly normally peaceful Rutherford High explodes into a donnybrook among members of the hockey team in the school parking lot that sends one boy to the hospital. The assailant is McCafferty's son. But the worst is yet to come: a small boy, standing in his front yard, waiting for the school bus, surrounded by children and adults, is shot dead without anyone hearing the shot. Hines, still new to his post as chief of detectives, takes charge of the investigations with admirable—and plausible—efficiency. The crime is a heinous one and, as with all the other threads in Gunn's complex procedural, it is dramatized realistically, with intelligence and insight. There's humor and humanity here, but nothing cute or cozy. All the minor characters are well realized and credibly motivated. Especially impressive is the "minor" matter of Jake's domestic flare-up, which is bound to make many readers squirm with recognition. Gunn's latest is a hard-to-put-down thriller—an excellent piece of craftsmanship. Agent, Jane Chelius. (June 15)
