When retired Portland homicide detective Skin Kadash witnesses his annoying neighbor shoot Eager Gillespie—a skateboarding street kid who frequents the neighborhood—in the face, he’s reluctantly drawn into the police investigation. Evidence suggests there’s more to the case than residents of the household where the shooting took place want to talk about. That, and Eager figured prominently in the unsolved murder of an unidentified young woman a few years before. No way can Kadash not get involved.

Three years and three months earlier, Ellie Spaneker marked her arrival in Portland as Day One. She’d fled her southern Oregon home, her abusive husband, her vengeful father-in-law and his brutal ex-cop enforcer. All that remained was for her to find her longtime friend, Luellen, and get on with the rest of her life. Unfortunately, things don’t always go according to plan. Sometimes, life takes unpredictable turns, goes in unexpected directions, has unintended outcomes, and things—having gone inextricably sideways—are never the same.

As it leapfrogs back and forth across spans of years, author Bill Cameron’s elaborate tale of love, betrayal, revenge, redemption, heroism and salvation builds suspense as it unravels the mysteries of the murdered woman—known only as the Tabor Doe—and of a series of home invasions, assaults, and murders that begin in southern Oregon and gradually work their way toward Portland. Only Kadash seems able to put an end to the carnage and chaos . . . but at what cost?

Day One is Cameron’s third published novel. Like its predecessors Lost Dog and Chasing Smoke, Day One is dark, gritty, compelling thriller fiction by an author destined to become one of the greats of the genre. If you’re an avid fan of thriller fiction and you haven’t read Cameron’s work because you’re not familiar with his name, you should, because—preferably sooner than later—you will be.

 

Bill Cameron lives in Portland, Oregon. Visit BillCameronMysteries.com.

 

Review by Phil Hanson