Review: "The Kind Worth Saving," Peter Swanson

When Joan Whalen shows up in PI Henry Kimball’s office, he doesn’t recognize her at first.

Joan was his student when Henry was a high school teacher. Violence erupted one day in his classroom. A shattered Henry went on to become a police officer. That didn’t end well either.

So it is we find him in his Cambridge, Mass., office, not in any position to turn down Joan’s prosaic, possibly totally boring, request. She wants Henry to find out whether her husband is seeing another woman.

Henry does spend considerable time drinking coffee and waiting for Richard Whalen to leave his real estate office—at first. But the case quickly spirals out of control. In the end, Henry’s life changes irrevocably.

Author Peter Swanson has wowed readers with the cleverly plotted Eight Perfect Murders and Nine Lives. His The Kind Worth Killing is one of the best mysteries ever.

Kimball returns as a character from that book. The Kind Worth Saving is not exactly a sequel, though other characters reappear as well. This novel stands on its own.

I was glad to see Kimball again, with his moody introspections, bad limericks and cat Pyewacket, and I hope Swanson brings him back for another book.

I enjoy my time in Swanson’s world of suburban Boston and coastal Maine. There is evil lurking beneath that bland landscape of subdivisions and mini-malls, not to mention the slightly seedy Windward Resort, which is well-known to Swanson’s readers.

The author is not afraid to surprise and sometimes shock. Watch out—twists ahead! I had a few nervous moments anticipating the outcome, but the ending was very satisfying—and maybe just a little bittersweet.