Goodbyeto the Dead is the seventh novel by Brian Freeman featuring Duluth,
Minnesota, police Lieutenant Jonathan Stride and partner Sergeant Maggie Bei.
Picking up where the previous novel left off, readers find Stride and his
live-in girlfriend and fellow police officer Serena Dial working through and
seemingly getting past their relationship difficulties. Stride has always been afraid
of the future after the death of his first wife and love of his life, Cindy,
eight years earlier. In Goodbye to the
Dead, Mr. Freeman takes readers back in time, when Cindy was still alive
and well, and Stride is investigating the murder of prominent and controversial
newspaper columnist Jay Ferris. The prime suspect is his wife, Dr. Janine Snow,
a locally loved and respected surgeon, and a friend of Cindy’s.
The story goes back and forth from the
past to the present, when a new case brings Stride and Bei back to the murder
of Jay Ferris, the guilt or innocence of Dr. Snow and, of course, Cindy. It is
a welcome look into Stride’s past, a chance for readers to learn and understand
what it was between him and Cindy that continues to haunt him to this day. The
story of the murder and the present case are both solid whodunits that kept me
guessing, mostly incorrectly, throughout the novel.
But the murder investigation was the
strongest part of the book. Mr. Freeman missed the opportunity to better
develop Stride by explaining his past with Cindy. Nothing was learned about
them that hadn’t been presented in other books. In this area, Mr. Freeman couldn’t
find new ways to say what he had several times in the past.
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| Author Brian Freeman |
Like in his previous novels featuring
Lieutenant Stride, Mr. Freeman struggles with police procedures, primarily in
the areas of police employment and roles within a department. I understand
authors taking liberties to make things fit together more fluidly, but the Stride
series seems to entirely disregard rules about hiring, transfers, rehiring, discipline
and termination, jurisdiction, and more. And it wouldn’t have been difficult to
make small changes to make it fit together more genuinely. It leads me to
believe Mr. Freeman either did no research on these issues and didn’t know any
better, or did and chose to disregard what he learned. Either way, it disrespects
police professionals and the structures, laws, and circumstances under which
they work.
Despite my criticisms, the strong plot
carried Goodbye to the Dead. From beginning
to end, the twists and turns kept coming and, even better, provided a moral and
ethical dilemma beyond the guilt or innocence of the prime murder suspect.
Freeman, Brian. Goodbye to the Dead, Quercus, March 8, 2016.
ISBN 978-1-62365-911-0
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