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Mark Cohen is the new kid on the block with his first mystery novel, THE FRACTAL MURDERS. His hero is Pepper Keane, a burned-out former boxer, Marine attorney, U.S. Attorney, founder/partner of a private practice law firm, and now a Boulder, Colorado private investigator. Pepper is a very bright, very curious man who is fascinated by philosophy and reads Heidegger for pleasure. He loves old rock-and-roll accompanied by sets of old country. For extra non-taxable spending money he writes perfect briefs for his former law partner. His best friends are Buck and Wheat, his dogs.
Professor Jayne Smyers, Ph.D., is a specialist in the new mathematical arena that is exploring the application of fractals. She hires Pepper to unravel two murders and an alleged autoerotic suicide (really a third murder) of colleagues who were high on the totem pole of fractal theory and how to apply this arcane, complicated and "hot" specialty to the everyday world. When Keane interviews her she tells him, " ... my specialty is fractal geometry. Last year I began working on a paper I intended to present at a conference this fall. When I completed my draft, I wanted someone else to critique it..." to make sure that it didn't have any flaws. "But ... fractal geometry is a rather narrow specialty, so [she] compiled a list of five of the most respected people in the field and attempted to contact them. I learned that two had been murdered and a third committed suicide. All within six months of each other."
Pepper Keane is a careful man. He wants to be sure he understands why she called him. Dr. Smyers says she explained that the odds of it being a coincidence were astronomical. After a few pointed questions he is told that neither the police nor the FBI had any interest in pursuing cases out of their jurisdictions or with no obvious connections to each other beyond the fact that the two men and one woman worked in the same field of study.
He takes the case, and as he begins his investigation, he immerses himself in the study of fractals; after reading everything the professor provided him, he wants to read the police reports on the deaths. From Boston to Nebraska to Kansas to Colorado, Pepper and his buddy Scott pragmatically set about to gather as much information as they can. Not everyone is cooperative; thus, they must find people to intervene on their behalf or devise other ways to get what they need.
In between the travel and the phone calls and the faxes and the bulging files, Cohen has his man give readers a running commentary of every move he makes and describes every object he sees. And this is one of the major flaws that is at the heart of THE FRACTAL MURDERS. With a fascinating topic like this, readers may wonder why the writer chose not to bring readers into the complex philosophical and fractal geometric threads that hold the story together.
Instead of a challenge he offers a low-key and mundane narrative framed by banalities that add nothing to the tension or what suspense readers expect from a mystery novel. All of the extraneous information bogs down the pace of the novel and detracts from the academic, governmental, technological and mathematical intricacies that would have made this book a blockbuster in the spirit of Charles Palliser or Umberto Eco.
As the story unfolds and Pepper becomes more and more involved, he relies on his gut instincts and the faith he has in his intellectual prowess. He is an interesting guy who is very congenial, which makes him an appealing character. When he is ruminating, or opining, the reader gets a glimpse of what Mark Cohen could have done with this debut book. Perhaps he had a case of "first novel-itis" and thus played it safe. Unfortunately, because he has written small, readers will be left wanting.
Perhaps in his next attempt, he will feel comfortable enough to splash his canvas with bold strokes and dazzling colors. Avid readers are always ready to give new writers a second chance --- fortunately for all concerned.
--- Reviewed by Barbara Lipkien Gershenbaum
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