Do You like book The Strangler (2007)?
I LOVED Defending Jacob and quickly searched out all novels written by Landay. This book is just not as exciting as Defending Jacob. Landay is compared to another Boston writer, Denis Lehane, and rightly so. Defending Jacob hit all the right notes. There is just something a little flat with The Strangler tho. Never really found myself connecting with any of the three main characters here. Unlike Lehane's Mystic River, where the reader is riveted to the page and can smell the streets of Boston, Landay's Boston seems a bit watered down. Hewever, this is a well-written book. Landay can write like a mutha cracker mos def.
—Brian Lee
Defending Jacob, Landay's most recent novel, was fantastic. I'm still thinking about it, in fact, still haunted by the creepiness of Jacob and the strength of the storytelling. Walking around in this pleasant book coma, I picked up The Strangler.Well. It's no Defending Jacob.Although the book wasn't particularly long (I just finished Anna Karenina, and would have given Tolstoy another 300 pages, easily), it felt looooong. At one point, with NBC's haphazard coverage of the Olympics on the background of my reading, I abandoned The Strangler to watch skeet shooting. This was the first sign that something was amiss.It's hard for me to say where the story goes wrong, exactly, because the story line is interesting: Three brothers get involved in some of Boston's darkest secrets in 1963-64. That's right -- the Boston Strangler. The development of "New Boston" -- while Old Boston is being demolished, paved over and strongarmed into silence. Maybe the book took on too many things at once; maybe it could have reached its quite good climax earlier. I'm not sure. But on the strength of Defending Jacob, I'm still going to read everything William Landay writes.
—Ptreick
Review of “The Strangler” by William Landay:Mr. Landay has become one of my favorite mystery authors. He’s published 2 books so far with the third one to be released 1/31/12. His first effort was “Mission Flats”. It was terrific and won the Dagger Award for best debut crime novel in 2003. “The Strangler” is set in Boston in 1963. The country is shaken by the recent assassination of President John F. Kennedy and Boston, in particular, is reeling from a rapist/murderer on the loose. Dubbed by the press as “The Boston Strangler” the women of Boston are terrified. However, this book is not about the assassination or even much about the Boston Strangler despite the title. It is about three Irish brothers and centers around the murder of their father and the mystery surrounding it. There is mob, there is police corruption, murder, gambling. Every element that makes a terrific mystery. One a cop, one a Assistant to the Attorney General and the other a non-apologetic burglar. The only slightly negative thing I will say Mr. Landay could have developed his characters a little more. This is the reason for the 4 stars instead of 5. I didn’t really feel I knew any of them. That being said, I still loved this book. I will not post anything that might be a spoiler to others, but let it suffice to say, this book is well worth the read for the ending alone. Mr. Landay is very good at keeping you guessing up until the last page. I really liked the ending and even though the thought of it had occurred to me, I dismissed it out of hand because it didn’t fit. If you choose to read this book, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Mr. Landay has a new novel titled “Defending Jacob” being released on January 31, 2012. Needless to say, I have it pre-ordered. I’m a big fan and the new book sounds intriguing.
—Glenda Ricord
