Author: George Woods
Genre: Action / Thriller / Police Procedural
Status: Read
Cats?: Zero
Zorro Says:
After reading that Hardy Boys mystery a couple months back, I've kept an eye out for other nostalgic action/adventure type books written for young people. That's why I picked up Catch a Killer by George Woods.
That Hardy Boys I read had a copyright date in the 1920s. Catch a Killer isn't that old. It hails from 1972. A quick Amazon search tells me this book isn't easy to get your hands on. There's no ebook version available, as far as I can tell. If you want to read this book, you'll have to buy a used copy of the hardcover or paperback.
I half understand why a school board might pick this book for young people: the main character is twelve years old. But just because you've got a kid in your book doesn't make it a kids' book. Catch a Killer doesn't strike me as a juvenile fiction so much. Reminds me more of a police procedural TV series from the 1970s in the vein of Columbo. Except a lot of it takes place in the woods.
Andrew, the aforementioned 12-year-old, ends up witnessing a crime. His bad luck, because that crime is the murder of two police officers. The killer immediately takes Andrew hostage and leads him on a night hike through the wilderness.
They're on the run.
Since the only police on-scene are now dead, will investigators think it was young Andrew who killed them?
The way this book was written is very effective. You get one chapter about Andrew's experience, one about the investigators trying to solve the double homicide, yet another about the killer's childhood and upbringing. Instead of vilifying the young man, the author shows the reader what drove him to kill. By then end of the book, even the boy he takes hostage feels empathy toward him.
Since we know who the killer is, the two main mysteries in this book are: 1) what made the killer kill, and 2) will Andrew be blamed for the crime?
In order to find out, you'll have to track down a copy of the book and read it for yourself. I enjoyed it, and any reader nostalgic for adventure novels from the 70s should like it too. The book's a product of its time. Very reminiscent of police procedurals from that decade, but also delving into the psychology of the killer.
If you want to Catch a Killer for yourself, you can find copies at Amazon.
