Review of "Fate Can Toss a Boomerang" by Carolyn Summer Quinn

Score: 93+/100 (9.3+ out of 10)

Fate Can Toss a Boomerang may be Carolyn Summer Quinn's darkest and most compelling mystery yet!
Carolyn Summer Quinn is one of the most prolific authors in the history of OCA with five previous award-winning entries (this being the sixth). She seems particularly adept at crafting historical fiction like Until the Stars Align and To Bloom Like a Tulip as well as mysteries like The Mystery from Way Back When and Cans of Cola Just Don't Cry.

One reservation we've always had about Quinn's work is that she has a certain style that often seems chaotic and convoluted, yet—somehow—simultaneously formulaic and predictable. Those adjectives don't usually go together, but we'll put it another way: it often seems like Quinn gets you all mixed up and wound up in knots near the middle of the book with a truckload of characters and red-herrings, but the conclusion is often pretty obvious. Meanwhile, a lot of the same types of plotlines and characters seemed to reoccur in Quinn's books, for better or for worse, as we've expressed in other reviews.

Well, this book is a breath of fresh air in that regard.

Yes, it's a bit predictable in terms of the culprit, but we'd be lying if we said we weren't thoroughly engaged through this book. That's a big deal.

Like we were alluding to earlier, we've often felt like a lot of Quinn's books start strong and end strong, but there tends to be a lot of twisty-turny fluff in the middle that isn't as compelling or interesting. This book does have red-herrings and twisty-turny fluff, but it's compelling and interesting. So, that's a big win.

We didn't want to put this book down. That's another big win.

Carolyn Summer Quinn must have really taken our previous criticisms to heart (especially about the formulaic nature of previous books) and made adjustments, because this book is distinctly different in so many ways. The tone is different. The premise is different. Yes, it's still a mystery, but it's a lot darker and a lot grimmer than probably any other book Quinn has written so far, including the Holocaust-era books.

This book involves a lifelong child predator, Petra Turkett, as its primary villain. That on its own raises the stakes and our blood-pressures. This is a more intense book than the others, one that keeps you on your toes, unsteady, uneasy, and nervous on what could come around the corner.

And, ironically, Petra Turkett is effectively, theoretically the victim of the detective mystery, at least so far as she's the murder victim whose homicide needs to be solved by the protagonists.

This really raises some big huge questions—ethical and moral ones. Like, does a predatory monster like Petra Turkett deserve justice? Does her case deserve the same attention and investigative efforts as her victims?

Adding to this is the fact that the main protagonist who is charged with solving Turkett's murder, Detective Knox Wanamaker, is a former victim of Turkett's. Now, THAT's a premise!

Now, there is a part of us that felt that Knox's character and backstory was a bit... off. For example, if he was a police officer—no, not just a normal police officer, a detective—with direct knowledge of Turkett's pedophilic activities—why would he never come forward with evidence? Why wouldn't he do more to protect the community from her? Yes, him being a police officer seems to scare her away, but beyond that... it doesn't seem like Knox did enough to thwart her while she was alive.

Like, how many more kids could've been protected if Knox had been more diligent and used his position to investigate her more? Why did it take her death to prompt that?

Like, what about Cody, Jasper Somerset, and—heck—even Davey?
All of these lives could've been helped if Knox did the common sense thing and was more proactive about stopping Petra.

Anyway, if you set that aside, this is a really tense mystery, especially when you start to realize how many people Petra victimized and how many lives she ruined. What happened to Jasper just doesn't sit well to us, and we're haunted by the thought of what Knox could've done better to stop someone he knew was evil and a criminal. Perhaps that's the point. It's a book full of ethical and moral dilemmas. Should you investigate and persecute a victim for taking out a menace to society? Should you use/abuse your position of power to stop a menace to society before they can strike again? If a loved one is assaulted, should you retaliate? Do you have that right? If you're assaulted, should you retaliate? Do you have that right? Or does that go beyond mere self-defense and into something else entirely?

Another good thing about this book is the subtle budding romance between Knox and Marigold Rivas. There's a definite attraction there, which presents an ethical dilemma (should you crush on and try to date your coworker?). But beyond that, you can kind of infer that Knox is romantically awkward because of the abuse he suffered at the hands of Petra, making her impact even more profound.

Check it out on Amazon!