- Hardcover: 272 pages
- Publisher: Orion (15 Aug 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0752856421
- ISBN-13: 978-0752856421
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.6 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,247,595 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Book Description
The new novel by the Edgar Award-winning author of THE CHATHAM SCHOOL AFFAIR
Product Description
Albert Jay Smalls is the prime suspect in the investigation into Cathy Lake's murder. The cops have no evidence or witnesses, but they're convinced he's hiding the truth and they've got just twelve hours to find out. Each cop has his own motive for wanting to nail Albert Jay Smalls. Jack Pierce is consumed by the murder of his daughter and his own promise to Cathy's mother. Norman Cohen is haunted by the terrible things he saw at the liberation of a concentration camp, Thomas Burke, Chief of police, has a dying son who he lost a long time ago. Cook deftly weaves the tragedies of all their lives into the last twelve hours of their interrogation of the suspect, after which, unless they have a confession, they must let him go. Cook's skill at delving into the psychological depths of his characters turns an otherwise ordinary police procedural into a tense, haunting, and resonant novel.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
September 12, 1952. Albert Jay Smalls, an unassuming homeless man, has been arrested for strangling 8-year-old Cathy Lake to death in a park near the tunnel where he lives. But the police don't have enough evidence to hold him. If he won't confess in the next eleven hours, they'll have to let him go. All through the night detectives Norm Cohen and Jack Pierce interrogate him, seeking to crack his denials or at least come up with enough evidence to keep him locked up where he can't do any more harm. While they are at this -- and returning to his home town in search of clues and digging up the park for the girl's missing necklace -- people are busy elsewhere around the city. Eddie Lambrusco is collecting the night's garbage, worrying over his sick daughter and wishing his old pal Charlie was still with him. Police Chief Thomas Burke is by his son's hospital bed, waiting for him to die. A small-time thief is having his own personal money crisis. As the night wears on and the pressure increases, all of these threads are woven together into a resolution as horrific as it is unavoidable.
THE INTERROGATION is truly hard to put down. At the beginning of each chapter is an old fashioned clock face reminding the reader of how many hours are left in the interrogation and stepping up the pressure as the characters (and reader) are driven ever closer to desperation. Cook has done a tremendous job of portraying his characters' motivations and playing on their strengths and weaknesses. I especially grew to identify with Jack Pierce, whose own young daughter was murdered and who thus has an even greater reason for promising Cathy's heartbroken mother he will bring her killer to justice. In this expertly plotted novel, which remains fast paced while laced with flashbacks, both the perpetrator and the ending are unguessable but expertly foreshadowed.
If you enjoy high tension, well developed mysteries that read almost like a movie, THE INTERROGATION is an excellent choice.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
27 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Superb historical police drama
31 Mar 2002
Format:Hardcover
Fourth grader Cathy Lake was supposed to meet her mother in the lobby of her friend's apartment building but failed to show up. Shortly after she was reported missing her twisted bloody body was found in the park near the duck pond. The police questioned several of the homeless that live in the park before arresting twenty-six years old Albert Jay Smalls, a vagrant who resides in a drainpipe.
After holding him for almost two weeks, the police have no evidence or witnesses that can place Smalls in direct contact with Cathy. The police have only twelve more hours to charge the homeless man with the crime or release him, something they are loath to do since the lead detectives, the chief of detectives and the chief of police are convinced he's guilty. They intend to use their remaining twelve hours to try and break him so they can get at the truth.
THE INTERROGATION takes place in 1952 before Miranda and Gideon at a time when the police had more latitude in dealing with a suspect involved in a heinous crime. This crime thriller is a fantastic historical police procedural due to the dynamic interactions of the characters and their personal perspectives on the crime. Thomas H. Cook is a mesmerizing storyteller, who knows how to create and sustain suspense throughout the story.
Harriet Klausner
13 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Moody, intense and suspenseful. Film Noir in book form.
23 Aug 2002
Format:Hardcover
`The Interrogation' is all about atmosphere.
If it were a movie it would be a classic black and white film noir starring George Raft.
If it were a painting it would be "Nighthawks" by Edward Hopper.
If it were a sound it would be the echo of unseen footsteps in the dark streets of an empty city.
Thomas Cook has masterfully created a bleak and silent city filled with solitary characters that are almost without exception imprisoned by their own loneliness, loss and guilt. At the center of it all is the marathon interrogation session going on in interrogation room 3. Oddly, this sparring between the detective and the child murder suspect is by far the most personal and intimate exchange in the book. We hang on every question and response, whether verbal or by body language. Is he guilty? Will he crack? What will they do to him if he doesn't? What will the new day bring? Keep reading and find out.
Seldom have I read a genre book so skillfully written. This is the first of Cook's books that I have read and it most definitely will not be the last.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Noir Novelist
2 Sep 2004
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
No other mystery writer today captures the essence of noir as well as Thomas Cook. The review amazon has pegged as their "Spotlight" review misses the point if this is the first of his books that they have read. His stories are more character driven than plot driven; they are more instrospective, moody, atmospheric, and for me, they never fall short. If the "Spotlight" reviewer didn't get the ending, it's because Mr. Cook's hallmark is that his clever intracies don't become evident until the end. He's almost impossible to outguess.
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