NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.

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What’s NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority About?

Part of this feels like too much to say, but it’s right there in the title (also, the publisher’s description), so…

Practically simultaneously, two wealthy and well-known producers are killed. One was shot by a sniper pulling off an incredibly difficult shot. The other was killed by a knife attack in broad daylight with no witnesses. These two were brothers, and each had given some people clear motives to kill them. But both at the same time? It’s difficult to tie them together. The NYPD Red squad—with Kylie MacDonald and Zach Jordan in the lead—is assigned to these cases and they want to consider that there’s one person behind the killings—with two accomplices doing the killing. But can they actually establish a link?

During their investigation, a theory begins to surface about a team of assassins operating under the name of a sorority—Kappa Omega Delta. KOD—Killers On Demand. It sounds farfetched to the partners (and their captain), but they keep running into the idea. And soon, they might start to find some actual evidence pointing to it.

Meanwhile, in a probably unrelated incident, Kylie’s boyfriend is shot. Officially barred from investigating (and she is front-and-center on a case the media and City Hall are focused on), Kylie is mostly watching this from the sidelines—but manages to help the detectives on the case while worried about his recovery.

The KOD Story

I’m both annoyed and glad that the description of the book tipped its hand so much about the assassins. I prefer to discover that kind of thing in my mystery novels—don’t tell me what the characters are going to figure out, let me do it with them. But knowing it was coming did make it easier to buy into.

Up to the point that Zach and Kylie really start to take the notion seriously this novel had the feel of a pretty by-the-book procedural. They were being methodical, beating the bushes, checking off the things they needed to—and that’s the kind of thing I really appreciate seeing in detective novels. I’ve said it before, I’ll keep saying it, too.

Then there’s a shift in the way the novel worked once we get to that point, though, and it takes on a heightened reality*-sense as the detectives try to work out the details of the KOD group—how they operate**, who they are, and how to track them down. The shift isn’t a qualitative one, really, it’s more subjective—it’s a different feel to the book. One that is probably more in line with the rest of the series. The transition jarred me a bit, but not so much that it took me out of the book—but it reminded me what kind of book I was reading.

* I really need to find or develop a synonymous phrase for that, because I use it too often in this post. Sorry about that.

** I fought off the temptation to really dig into this part here, you should read it for yourself.

Looking back over this whole thing, I’m really impressed with it—at several points Karp plays against what you believe is happening. I don’t think he ever pulls the rug out from beneath the reader—but he gives it a good, strong tug, and makes you stumble a bit. It may not be as flashy as a huge twist but can leave the reader just as discombobulated and unprepared for what’s next.

The Personal Subplots

I thought these were handled pretty well. There were elements of Zach’s story that seemed like pretty large coincidences, but if a reader isn’t willing to accept a convenient coincidence here and there, it might be time for a new hobby. I do think that story was handled pretty well.

The same goes for the plot about Kylie’s boyfriend and the shooting (and what that suggests about the ongoing story about her now-missing husband). I think this shooting, the investigation, and the resolution was actually the strongest storyline in the novel and Karp developed it well. Especially in the heightened reality of this series, this came across as pretty grounded.

I’d have to go and look at my posts about the first two books in this series to see if I say anything about it—but I don’t want to. I’m pretty sure that at the time I thought the books spent too much time on the personal lives of these two detectives. To an extent, it made sense while establishing the characters, but I still thought the balance was off. Perhaps it’s because this is a later book in the series, perhaps it’s the shift in authors, maybe it’s just the way things worked out here in NYPD Red 7—I’m not sure I care—but that problem is gone. I even paused to note a couple of times how compared favorably to my memories of the first two books.

So, what did I think about NYPD Red 7: The Murder Sorority?

I went into this book with apprehensions—I dropped this series after two books and while I don’t remember being opposed to coming back, I sure wasn’t in a hurry to. But when someone mails me an ARC, I tend to read it. And I’m really glad I did—it won me over pretty easily, I got invested and caught up in the story, and generally had fun reading the book.

The best thing I can compare this to is an episode of Castle—but with two Detective Becketts and no novelist. Detectives—and their friends, lovers, contacts—who are impossibly attractive and extraordinarily bright on the trail of implausibly effective and skilled killers. And it’s just as entertaining as that series was at its best.

The heightened reality of this series works well in the cases these detectives are involved with—Entertainment personalities and the super-rich. I’ve always liked the idea of a squad like NYPD Red (see also, The Closer‘s Priority Homicide), and halfway assume something like this actually exists. Given media scrutiny and politics, it makes sense for cases of this profile to be handled differently (as long as no one’s ignoring other cases per Bosch’s maxim). I enjoy seeing detectives work in this world as much as I do seeing them in more “everyday” settings belonging to the middle and lower class.

There’s part of me that wants to harp on the implausibility of KOD. But I don’t know why I would—it’s a fun idea and works well in this novel. Karp’s version of this thing that we’ve seen and read about in other books/shows/movies/comics is as successfully conceived and executed as I’ve seen it. And as I said before, if you accept the world of this series, the outlandish nature of the KOD works well. So, I don’t know why I feel like I have to make excuses for it or justify it, but I do feel that way. The KOD is a good challenge for Kylie and Zach and the way they confront it is entertaining. Which is what this book is about. He’s not attempting to tell a gritty story like Winslow’s The Badge (which has parts that are just as implausible)—this is an action-adventure story.

This is a fun read—I raced through it because Karp’s writing and pacing wouldn’t let me put it down until I had to. I thought the novel was stronger than the first two in the series and I’m tempted to go back and see where the series started improving. I’m definitely interested in NYPD Red 8, assuming that Karp gets to do another one and I hope the sales without Patterson’s name on the cover allow it.

Even if you’ve never read this series (maybe particularly), pick this up if you’re in the mood for an adventurous Police Detective novel, I think you’ll be glad you did.