A Review of Jean Holloway’s Ace of Hearts
By LMReviews on Dec 17, 2008 in Multicultural Lit Reviews, Multicultural Writing
In a multilayered plot that pushed and pulled from beginning to end, Jean Holloway drifts in and out of the consciousness of Detective Shevaughn Robinson, an African American woman new to the homicide division, reporter and love interest Tony O’Brien, a Caucasian reporter sniffing for the big story to make his career, sexually depraved killer Eric Becker and a host of other characters used to increase the victim count and assist in capturing the sadist. While Eric’s taunting of both the police and his victims as the Ace of Hearts killer seemed comical at times and his actions seemed designed to get the most shock value as opposed to satisfying a true diabolical need, I found myself continuing to read just to see how he would come to his demise.
Truthfully, I became less and less interested in the love story between O’Brien and Robinson since one of Eric’s victims was O’Brien’s girlfriend. I found the relationship a little awkward and an intrusion when it began to heat up as the murders began to cool down. Although Shevaughn’s first encounter with Eric was carefully planted in the novel’s beginning, Eric’s fixation on her later seems artificial because it’s nearly forgotten not only by the reader but by Eric himself as he develops his murdering persona. I didn’t relate to any of the characters and the fact that the Holloway clearly sets up Shevaughn as a target for revenge by Eric’s wife at the end of the novel, I feel the book left little to the imagination for the sequel. Holloway did a great job of keeping my attention for nearly 270 pages. Ace of Hearts earns 3 out of 5 Sable Seals.
