Mystery novelist Tami Hoag’s newest story, “The 9th Girl”, should come with a warning label to prepare readers for thrilling ride that begins from page one.
This book is not for the faint of heart: Hoag doesn’t hold back any gruesome details or harsh realities, allowing her to captivate the audience and keep us turning pages even as we cringe. However, don’t be deterred: along with the cringing comes a plot line guaranteed to keep us on our toes.
Sam Kovac and Nikki Liska are homicide detectives in Minneapolis who have been partners for a number of years. They are completely at ease with working together to track down leads, making rude jokes and understanding each other’s complicated personal lives. Kovac is a twice-divorced-now-single man with a rough and very intimidating exterior. Liska is a short but fierce woman, who is gifted at raising her two boys despite a messy divorce and unreliable ex-husband.
The story begins late on New Years Eve. Kovac and Liska are unfortunately ringing in the New Year with a brutal homicide instead of a party.
Their victim is a Jane Doe because her fingerprints aren’t in the system, and her face has been battered to the point of being unrecognizable. All they know is that she is of high school age, has a stylized Chinese calligraphy tattoo, and that her death was incredibly painful, including an excessive number of stab wounds and burning acid. A murder is not exactly the way they wanted to greet a New Year.
At first, Liska and Kovac suspect the perpetrator to be a serial killer they’ve been dealing with for the past several months, dubbed ‘Doc Holiday’, whose victims are killed on national holidays. He leaves no evidence. This girl would be his 9th victim.
However, it soon becomes clear that there might be more to this murder than meets the eye. The girl is identified as a ninth grader at a nearby specialized art school. Liska and Kovac are thrown into the surprisingly cruel and abusive social lives of a group of high school kids, one of whom turns out to be Liska’s oldest son, Kyle.
Plus, they are forced to consider the girl’s family life when suspicion is cast around the mother and her new fiancée.
When a second girl disappears, the battle to solve the New Year’s murder escalates as Kovac and Liska race to find answers to help prevent another gruesome story.
Throughout the twists and the turns of the novel, Hoag keeps us guessing by constantly switching voices and thoughts of various characters, including Kovac, Liska, Kyle, a young girl named Brittany and Doc Holiday himself. These shifts allow us an inside look at the way each person’s mind works as well as an understanding of why they make certain choices.
Hoag is skilled in giving us a great deal of inside information while still concealing some secrets, leaving us with more puzzle pieces than we know how to competently handle.
This story races through theories and possibilities, and no stone is left unturned. It walks delicate boundary lines, forcing questions about family, friendship, acceptance, happiness and how quickly it can all fall apart.
