The Murder Notebook (Nate Rodriguez Series #2)

by Jonathan Santlofer

Overview

“Santlofer’s fluid, almost poetic, writing, coupled with his extraordinary artwork, places him at the forefront of cutting-edge crime fiction.”
—Chicago Tribune
 

Jonathan Santlofer has brilliantly reinvented the crime novel, and he returns with his most gripping and astonishing suspense novel to date: The Murder Notebook. An acclaimed visual artist whose numerous awards include two National Endowment for the Arts painting grants—and whose work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Art in America, and Artforum, among other publications—Santlofer combines gripping tales of murder and detection with stunning artwork that enhances and is integral to the story. In The Murder Notebook he brings back NYPD forensic sketch artist Nate Rodriguez, hero of Santlofer’s critically acclaimed thriller Anatomy of Fear, to unravel a gruesomely tangled thread of apparent murder-suicides in New York City.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780060882051
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/13/2009
Series:	Nate Rodriguez Novels , #2
Pages:	389
Sales rank:	820,073
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Jonathan Santlofer is the author of five novels and a highly respected artist whose work has been written about and reviewed in the New York Times, Art in America, Artforum, and Arts, and which appears in many public, private, and corporate collections. He lives and works in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

The second volume in Santolfer's Nate Rodriguez series (Anatomy of Fear) has the police sketch artist investigating a series of violent and seemingly unrelated murder-suicides. Rodriguez is now part of his girlfriend's task force, putting a strain on the new couple made worse after the FBI shuts the police case down. Suspicious of the FBI's involvement and convinced that the crimes are connected, Rodriguez investigates on his own and learns more than he ever wanted to know about posttraumatic stress disorder, Gulf War syndrome, and government defense experiments. As with Anatomy of Fear, the strongest parts of the book feature Rodriguez working with victims and witnesses in creating his sketches, which serve as illustrations throughout the book. Santlofer also does an excellent job of switching perspectives, giving readers brief insights into the victims. The inclusion of a second, unrelated case (first mentioned in the previous novel) feels forced; this narrative should have been better developed or omitted altogether. Perhaps as a result, the resolution of the central murder-suicide narrative feels neglected and rushed. Still, the charm of Rodriguez makes this book a pleasant read. Recommended for larger mystery collections.
—Julie Elliott

Library Journal