Review of "Night Kills," by Ed Gorman

 Review of

Night Kills, by Ed Gorman, ISBN 0345345924

Four out of five stars

Unusual premise that mostly works

 Frank Brolan works as an adman in the brutal and often cutthroat advertising/marketing business. He is attending a party with his fellow people in the business when he has an unusual encounter with a woman he does not know. The business will quickly become literally cutthroat when the woman appears dismembered in his basement freezer. It turns out that the woman is a hooker, albeit an unusual one.

 Fearful of bringing in the police, Frank decides to try to determine the actual circumstances before informing anyone other than his closest friend. This begins an unusual murder mystery where a teenage runaway and a man confined to a wheelchair become his allies. The man in the wheelchair was a close confidant of the murdered woman and is very smart.

 The case proceeds as with assistance, Frank begins unearthing clues that make him realize that his colleagues in the ad business are not what they appear to be. His agency recently managed to snag major accounts from other agencies and Frank discovers that this was accomplished using underhanded methods. The murderer and his henchpeople are uncovered, although not without significant cost.

 As unusual feature of the story is the repeated references to classical films. Frank and the man in the wheelchair are both movie buffs and they often debate the merits and qualities of old movies and their more modern remakes. This does a great deal to improve what is otherwise a routine murder story.

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