Susan Fleet's Blog

Review of Sniper, #8 in the Frank Renzi crime thriller series

Sniper: a Frank Renzi crime thriller by Susan Fleet

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


from Midwest Book Reviews.

"Sniper pairs New Orleans homicide detective Frank Renzi's crime-busting abilities with a challenging scenario as he faces a French Quarter sniper, a crime spree, and a set-up in which a deadly killer targets strangers with the precision of pre-calculated automation. Frank not only can't pinpoint the perp, he has no idea if the killings are random or targeted. Neither is it evident why a clever jewelry store thief's operations should attract the sniper's admiration and earn an invitation for them to meet. Eventually, Frank comes to believe that someone important will die if he can't get a better handle on the sniper's modus operandi and his identity. Unfortunately, Frank doesn't know who the target will be.
Like Susan Fleet's other Frank Renzi books, Sniper can be read as a stand-alone. While it dovetails nicely with his other adventures, it doesn't require any prior familiarity with Renzi in order to prove accessible to newcomers, who receive all the background details they need in the course of this riveting crime thriller.

Another plus to the evolving mystery is that readers are privy to the sniper's thoughts, actions, and his stormy relationship with his handler, which dictates some of his choices and actions. One glimpses the heart and mind of the killer and sees through his eyes, an approach that creates a tense thriller in which a killer barely on the edge of control chafes at being reigned in and manipulated. The addition of a clever thief who uses disguises and carefully targets her heist victims delivers a fascinating scenario in which three vastly different perspectives of New Orleans life and culture in the French Quarter dovetail with deadly precision.

Renzi's interactions on the street and with the top brass in his department reveal everyone's stake in protecting their reputations, some of which hinder Renzi's search for the sniper. Fleet's characters are realistic and engrossing, her action swift and precise, and her subplots complex, enhancing the atmosphere of treachery and betrayal. Fans of detective novels and crime thrillers will find the tension exquisitely wrought with just the right doses of psychological intrigue, insight, and unexpected twists to keep the story line moving along at a swift pace.

Sniper is delightfully unpredictable. Readers may get into the minds of Renzi, the sniper, and the thief; but won't always know where their lives are heading. Mystery fans who crave surprises will delight in another Renzi saga that turns their expectations upside down, a twisty thriller that weaves a far more sinister tale than that of a lone random sniper." -- Diane Donovan, senior reviewer Midwest Book Reviews​



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GIRL POWER!

Check out these two super-talented girls.
How about that Mo'en Davis! This girl is an inspiration to us all, a 13-year-old with a blazing fastball. During the recent Little League World Series, she tossed a 2-hitter to lead the Philadelphia Taney Dragons to a 4-0 victory.

She pitched the complete game, the first female pitcher to throw a shutout in Little League World Series history. Using her 70 mph fastball, the five-foot-four dynamo struck out 8 batters and allowed only two hits.

http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/...!

Good Cop, Bad Cop

In October 2002 Tacoma Washington Police Chief David Brame gained national attention during the Beltway Sniper shootings. Brame believed the suspects, John Muhammad and John Malvo, had murdered a Tacoma, Washington, woman.

Less than a year later, Brame drew a different kind of attention. On April 26, 2003, as their two young children watched from a nearby car, he murdered his wife, Crystal Brame.

Read more at
http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_...

Why Hate Women?

Many people in the United States are outraged about recent attacks on women in other countries. If you've read my earlier posts, you know I am, too. But women are raped, abused and murdered in America, too. More on that in a minute, but first, four horror stories.

Child bride kills groom, 3 others.

On April 11, 2014, a 14-year-old girl in Nigeria, killed her 35-year-old husband and three of his friends by putting rat poison in their rice. A week earlier she had been forced to marry a man 24 years older than she was. She told police she did this because she was forced to marry a man she did not love. The girl has been charged with culpable homicide.
Read more here: http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/...

The Strange Case of Amy Bishop

The Bishops seemed like an ordinary two-parent family with two kids. They owned a big Victorian in Braintree, a suburb south of Boston. Samuel was a film professor at Northeastern University. His wife Judith was active in local politics. Seth, 18, was a Northeastern University freshman. Amy, 21, was also at NU, majoring in biology.

On December 6, 1986, Amy had an argument with her father, who owned a 12-gauge shotgun which he kept in his room. After he left the house, Amy went upstairs to his room. Her mother and brother weren't home, but they returned a short time later. Amy took the shotgun downstairs.

Her mother and Seth were in the kitchen. "I have a shell in the gun and I don't know how to unload it,” Amy said. She turned to Seth and the gun went off, striking Seth. He died at the hospital. Amy was never charged. But Seth was not the last person she would kill.

In 2010, Amy, then a professor at the University of Alabama, pulled out a gun at a faculty meeting and went on a shooting rampage. Three people died and three others were critically wounded.
Read more here:
http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_...

The Candy Man

Dean Corll loved candy. In the mid-1950s, when Dean was a kid, his mother opened a candy shop in Houston. Dean helped her make the candy. Years later, Houstonites dubbed him The Candy Man, because he handed out free candy to local children.

But he had sinister motives. Between 1970 and 1970, Dean Corll, aided by two accomplices, raped, tortured and killed at least 28 boys.
See MORE
http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_...

Sex For Sale

Last year a lot of men in Kennebunk, Maine, got their knickers in a twist. Seems that police found their names and phone numbers in a fitness instructor's little black book.
We're not talking pushup, folks, we're talking about paying for sex. Not with Heidi, the Hollywood madam, not with Deborah, the D.C. Madam. With a 29-year-old woman who allegedly swapped money for sex in her dance studio in Kennebunk.
Read more at http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/...

Nobody's Perfect

After a hard day at work Carol Neulander, 52, was relaxing at home on the night of November 1, 1994. She and her husband, Rabbi Fred Neulander, 53, lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Years earlier, when her children were young, Carol began selling cakes and pastries from her home to help support the family.

Now her Classic Cake Company was thriving. When the doorbell rang, she went to the door and saw two men outside. One said he knew her husband and asked to come inside. As she led the men into the house, one hit her from behind with a metal pipe.

She fell to her knees, screaming, "Why? Why?" The men beat her head with pipes until she was dead.

Read more at http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog_...

A cookie caper and a spurned ballerina

Got a hankering for Girl Scout cookies? Looking for the latest news in the ballet world?
Frank Renzi's latest rant is just what you need!

http://darkdeeds.susanfleet.com/blog/...

Good news-bad news update

Here's an update on that Afghani girl who got shot in the face by the Taliban ... yes there's good news for Malala. Unfortunately, there is also bad news. Read why a 14 year old Afghani girl had her head cut off ... and why Moroccan judges pressure some young women into marrying their rapists ... and why there are so many gang-rapes in New Delhi, India