Book Talk: James Grippando, ‘The Informant’

After a lengthy hiatus from novels by James Grippando, whose many works are published in 27 languages, I recently “rediscovered” some of his earlier books. He’s always had a great sense of suspense, and his writing is crisp.

“The Informant” (1996, 320 pages in hardback edition) opens with a phone call to the Sheriff’s Department in Hainesville, Georgia. The caller reports a homicide, one that he committed. The victim was Gerty, a Hainesville resident who was widely known throughout the community. The caller took her two days before the phone call, and when Sheriff Dutton asked why the caller had waited before reporting to the authorities, the answer was, “Because I wasn’t finished with her yet.”

Everything points to a serial killer, one who FBI agent Victoria Santos had been tracking in Oregon. When she learns of the killing in Georgia, she knows that she needs to go to Hainesville.