The Silent Hour

By Michael Koryta. Allen & Unwin, $38.99.

Young wunderkind crime writer Michael Koryta won the PI Writers of America Best First Novel and was nominated for an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for his debut, Tonight I Said Goodbye.

That acclaimed novel, which Koryta wrote when he was only 20, introduced Cleveland private investigator Lincoln Perry to the genre.

Now, four books later, Koryta (who is also an award-winning journalist and part-time private eye himself) has moved from rising star to establishing a solid position among the upper echelon of crime writers.

In The Silent Hour , Perry is asked by convicted murderer and former parolee Parker Harrison to investigate the 12-year-old disappearance of Alexandria Sanabria, the founder of a unique residential programme for released killers - a woman whose brother is a suspected underworld kingpin and whose husband's skeletal remains, Perry quickly discovers to his dismay, have recently been unearthed.

Perry finds himself scratching at the scab of a sordid family mystery, intertwined with decades-old threats and past and present police and FBI investigations, and unwittingly following a trail that leads to more deaths.

Koryta weaves a nicely paced and engrossing tale, with some unexpected twists, but, like the very best in the genre, his storytelling is much more than just page-turning plotlines.

Perry is an intriguing and complex protagonist, whose struggles give him a humanity that will resonate with many readers.

The supporting cast is full of interesting and well-rounded characters; authentic and distinct personalities, perspectives and voices.

Koryta makes you want to turn the page, for the characters and the story, and when you get to the end, you want to go out and immediately find another of his books.

• Craig Sisterson is a reviewer who grew up in Richmond.

- © Fairfax NZ News