Title: Victim
Author: Robert Wangard
Publisher: Ampersand, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-9985222-1-0
Pages: 336
Genre: Fiction / Crime / Mystery
Review: Joe Kilgore
Pacific Book Review
Victim is the latest in Robert Wangard’s series of Pete Thorsen novels. Pete is an ex-lawyer who left a big corporate practice in Chicago for a private practice in the bucolic wilds of Northern Michigan. Try as he might to lead a low key and laid back life, trouble seems to find him like hogs find truffles. This time the trouble is as bad as it gets—murder.
Pete’s occasional one-on-one basketball opponent, and sometime friend, winds up on the receiving end of four rifle bullets. To make matters worse, when he becomes a human bulls eye he’s only feet away from Pete’s stepdaughter, Julie. As the police begin their investigation of the crime, both Pete and Julie get more and more involved. Before you know it, the ostensible Victim of the title, Pete’s friend Bud, is revealed to have been responsible for quite a few victims of his own nefarious Ponzi schemes. Soon, the suspects start to pile up like rush hour traffic on Lake Shore Drive. There’s a war veteran suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder who is intermittently violent with or without cause. There’s a mysterious Panamanian with a motive. There’s a single babe whose multiple marriages left her with all kinds of money that Bud turned into all kinds of losses. She’s losing no tears over Bud’s demise while harboring a less-than-subtle attraction to Pete. There are also additional investors who were duped, coworkers who were left holding the bag, and various acquaintances, friends, and relatives with personal axes to grind.
This tale, like others in the Thorsen series, features a supporting cast of returning friends and foes. There’s Pete’s pal, Harry, who runs the local newspaper. There’s detective Tessler, who likes to swap sandwiches, gossip, provide occasional clues. There’s Sheriff Richter with the bulging biceps and the continual chagrin over Pete’s involvement in the law enforcement’s business. And there’s the aforementioned Julie, who takes on a more prominent and harrowing role in this whodunit.
Wangard has chosen to spin this yarn along parallel paths. From the very beginning readers are made aware of the killer’s thoughts and actions without ever getting a real glimpse of personal identity. Simultaneously, he gives us a third person overview of Pete’s efforts to unravel the mystery. This plot parallelism enhances interest and keeps you continually guessing as to just whom the killer really is.
As usual, Wangard tells his story without falling back into genre clichés or hyperbole. His crisp, economy of language keeps the pace moving relentlessly forward, yet he never skimps on relevant detail or engaging description. This is a sure-handed writer practicing his craft in a rock-solid series. Don’t worry. If you choose this particular Pete Thorsen tale, there’s no way you’ll be the Victim.
