Protagonists Bound By Their Pasts

In these two adult novels involving crimes and killings, the protagonists come from very different places. In A Deadly Influence by Mike Omer, a hostage negotiator who survived a cult as a child winds up dealing with another cult survivor whose son was kidnapped. The lieutenant's personal life and her ex pose problems she's too involved with to use her negotiator skills--and the suspects are many.

In Black Maps by Peter Spiegelman, a former merchant banker turned rural deputy sheriff turned private detective after his life has turned into a mess takes a job to track down someone who sent a blackmail note to an investment banker up for a big promotion. Another protagonist whose personal life is a big part of the story. Pasts keep messing up the presents and futures of a large cast of characters.

Both these novels remind me that books are more than just the main plot. When you truly build characters, they have lives and relationships giving them good days and bad, arguments and happiness. The books feel more like real life, if sometimes over the top in plot senses.

Both kept me reading, though Black Maps drew me closer into the character's head.