Torment

By: Jeffrey Butler
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Publication Date: August 27, 2024
ISBN: 979-8891323902
Reviewed by: Rebecca Jane Johnson
Review Date: August 19, 2024

Jeffrey Butler’s debut Torment is vivid detective fiction at its most disturbing. Detective Harper Jones recently lost his partner, Anders Kaplan. Anders was shot while the two men were investigating the homicide of Alison Newton. Newton had been a quiet young woman who worked in food delivery; her seemingly senseless murder in a back alley wracked this once-sleepy seaside town of Wolf Hollow, a quaint summer destination couched between the Blue Ridge mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
Months after his partner’s murder, Harper is still unable to solve the crime. His trauma and grief prompted his divorce from Angela Renfro, who is a news anchor for the local television station. When someone disinters and rapes Alison Newton’s dead body, Harper finds himself revisited by the ghosts of this unsolved case. Now, begrudgingly taking on a new partner, Detective Jones works with Detective Dunning to piece together a few clues when a third murder occurs at the exact same place with the same gruesome wounds, but the victim is a young man, Kenny Brainwell. Throughout town, speculation abounds: how and why are Alison and Kenny’s murders connected? Is a serial killer on the loose? Others muttered about the fact that they both had worked for Franco Manetti, whom everyone knew used to be connected to the Philly mob.
When the federal marshals pay a visit to Harper Jones’s Chief of police, the plot takes yet another compelling twist. The suspense ramps up when a threat looms large, pursuing Harper’s ex-wife.
This story has all the dramatic gumshoe elements: sexy cops, annoying reporters, a criminal who is as psychologically deranged as he is evasive, locals versus feds, and vivid horror. Since the narrative bounces back and forth between the first person and third person points of view, there are some moments when readers see the perpetrator observing Jones and Dunning from a distance, while he remains undetected; unfortunately, these point of view shifts compromise the detective cleverness. This aspect of the novel felt unsatisfying. It would help to know whether Harper Jones has a successful record as a brilliant detective, that he has solved a major case in the past, maybe something that shows he was considered a local hero? However, such details are never revealed, which made Harper Jones difficult to root for at times.
That said, readers do get to see Harper caring for his ailing mother and visiting his former partner’s wife, which are moments that help develop his human side and reveal how he copes with being haunted by the guilt and trauma of Anders’ death. It is satisfying to see Harper’s human side.
Quill says: Torment is solid detective fiction that can boast an impressive ability to build chilling suspense that, by the end, leaves the reader hungry for the next book.
For more information on Torment, please visit the publisher's website at: atmospherepress.com/books/torment-a-harper-jones-novel-by-jeffrey-butler/