Mystery/Thriller -- 3 stars
When four people die in an elevator accident, it's a bad day in New York City. The next few days prove that it wasn't random, and it's only going to get worse. The mayor has to make a decision: keep his city running, or keep his citizens safe. ----- A mayor running for reelection, mayoral aides who are at odds with the mayor's son, a journalist determined to bring the mayor down, a daughter with a new job at City Hall--a cornucopia of possibilities but none of them are ever developed enough to become really interesting. There are some not-so-subtle references to current politicians (an actress paid off to keep her quiet about her affair with the mayor, is the most obvious). Gingrich gets a passing reference with the mention of the mayor's affair going on while his wife was dying of cancer; and Giuliani and quid pro quo are thrown into the mix early on, but even those semi-interesting tidbits are never developed, eventually leaving you wondering why they were mentioned in the first place. We are left with characters who we get to know on the surface only, we know HOW they act, but have no idea WHY they act. The result is a colorless story where the short-lived elevator victims are more interesting than the main players. I have enjoyed several Linwood Barclay books. The Promise Falls Trilogy was especially good. Unfortunately, this one is more "meh" than "wow."
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