Review

We have thoroughly enjoyed John Hart's mystery novels over the years. He is a great storyteller and he is the only author who has won the Edgar Award for best novel with consecutive books (Down River and The Last Child, both reviewed in earlier editions of TRE). Readers will find The Unwilling an entertaining and highly suspenseful read, although there are characters that fall into an improbable category. The story is set in a North Carolina town during the Vietnam War years and centers on the French family of three boys, the father a detective in the town. The eldest son, Robert, has been killed in Vietnam, Jason, his twin, served 27 months in Vietnam, decorated but disgraced (we only find out why later), is a druggie and has just been released from prison. He returned to town seeking to reconnect with his younger brother, Gibby, an 18-year-old high school student. Robert was the favorite son and his death has driven a wedge through this family. Jason is regarded as an outcast and his parents do not want him to engage Gibby. However, Jason coaxes him to join him for a day with two women. During that day of driving in Gibby's convertible, they pass a prisoner transfer bus out on an empty road and one of the girls, drunk, taunts the prisoners by stripping, causing a major disturbance on the bus. This event gets back to the prison that Jason just left and a few days later the girl is grossly murdered. Jason is jailed for the murder and readers are introduced to a powerful death row inmate called "X" and to a sick killer called Reece who acts on X's direction. Gibby wants to prove his brother's innocence, but when a second woman disappears, he is also deemed a suspect. John Hart is a great writer and the suspense ratchets up as he demonstrates his storytelling ability and literary instincts. The Unwilling is a wartime story which centers on a fractured family as they struggle to heal their wounds.

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