City of the Dead is an unconventional thriller, but certainly one of the most grounded and classiest police procedurals of the decade. With the charismatic LA backdrop for a slew of murders that may or may not be connected, the narrative is a slow burn but deeply insightful and irresistible.
When a woman is brutally murdered in her apartment along with an unidentifiable young man, Detective Milo Sturgis calls upon the brilliant expertise of Psychologist Alex Delaware to aid the investigation due to the disturbing nature of the crime scene. Starting from scratch, Alex and Milo unearth clues through logical and reasonable deductions that exhibit a true-crime investigation vibe as opposed to a pure fictional one. Both leading characters balance out the proper crime solving essentials, with Milo taking up the charge of hardcore door to door police-work while Alex calls upon his instincts to psychoanalyze the suspects and the crimes, marking a dynamic and memorable crime-solving duo.
Johnathan Kellerman writes an easy-to-follow prose with a kindred sense of relatability that works in perfect harmony with Alex’s first person POV. This is one of the rare few narratives where the setting takes a life of its own. LA’s vibrant and sometimes sinister aura is elegantly described with simple but effective words along with complimenting characters that seem so real and plausible that we begin to truly care for them. The dogged determination of the leads keeps you gripped with the anticipation of the big reveal that hits you like a freight train from the least expected direction.
If you’re yearning for something besides an ordinary thriller with cool tidbits about solving crimes the old-fashioned way and a surprisingly uplifting message, you can’t go wrong with City of the Dead.
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