GOOD PEOPLE by Marcus Sakey
Some people want to draw comparisons between Marcus Sakey and other legendary writers of thrillers, but I object. Marcus Sakey is in a league of his own. He is the freshest voice in this genre in ages and as such he is unique and incomparable. He made a stir of sorts with his first two novels AT THE CITY’S EDGE and THE BLADE ITSELF but they pale in comparison to his latest work GOOD PEOPLE.
GOOD PEOPLE is the kind of book that you can’t wait to read just by reading the inside flap. Then once you get into the story you are scared to keep reading and incapable of stopping. It is a horror story but the horror is in the reality of the situation where you can find yourself identifying easily with the two main characters.
Tom and Anna Reed are good people. They work hard and don’t ask much from life. They just want to have a baby and settle down in domesticity. But their efforts to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization have met with negative results and just about all of their funds have dried up from the expenses this procedure entails.
Just when they are ready to give up completely on this dream, a bundle of cash virtually falls into their laps. There is a fire in the apartment they rent to a man they know little about. They go in to check on the fire and find the renter dead and much money hidden in the apartment. They figure it was from ill gotten gains but decide to take it for their own. It will mean the end of all their financial problems and will give them a chance at in vitro again.
But some bad people know about the money and they want it back. Keeping the cash may be the death of the Reeds. That is where the suspense comes in, and the fear of finding out what “mean” people will do causes panic on the reader’s part. It isn’t pretty.
Sakey masterfully raises the suspense level with every page you turn. Just when you think it can’t get any more intense, it does. And it does so in a logical and sane way. If it were absurd it might not be as chilling, but it isn’t.
Set aside a few hours when you will be uninterrupted to read this book because once you start you are not going to want to stop. Calling it a page-turner is insufficient. Calling it a non-stop read is more to the point.
If you like thrillers, and who doesn’t, this is the book for which you have been waiting. Marcus Sakey is the new “must read” author. His day has come and we are all the better for it. Reading just took a giant step forward in intensity and suspense.
GOOD PEOPLE is published by Dutton. It contains 336 pages and sells for $24.95.