Aphrodite Book

Aphrodite, in Russell Andrews' new switchback of a thriller, is a secret over which people will kill and kill again. The book starts with a string of deaths--a Washington intern who is having an affair, a philosopher specialising in social ethics, and a reporter who started checking up on some mistakes she made in a movie star's obituary--that seem to have nothing whatsoever in common. Westwood, the cop who finds himself investigating the dead journalist, really wants it to be an accident--he has things in his past that make him not want ever again to be a serious policeman--but he finds clues, and then he finds a witness--the dead woman's yoga-instructor. At that point, his troubles really begin. Andrews is fascinating when writing about the secret so important that people have to die for it, but the real interest of the book is in Westwood and the process whereby he stretches, and starts using again, an intellect, a physical toughness and a capacity for ruthlessness with which he really thought he was done for good. The mystery is inventive enough--but Andrews makes us care about his hero and the woman he finds himself protecting. --Roz KaveneyRead More