‘What Goes Around’ by Michael Wendroff

Published by Head of Zeus,
10 October 2024.
ISBN: 978: 1-03590008-4 (HB)

This is a gripping and chilling murder story which is both relentless in its horror and psychological drama.  The setting is small town America where the Sheriff wants an easy life and is reluctant to accept that a series of murders in the area could be connected.  The investigators called in to solve the crimes were previously arch enemies who had fallen out years before in Police College. 

Jack Ludlum is a big man who is used to using his brawn to get things done and Jill Jared is a thoughtful and clever investigator who believes in thought before action.  Although they are initially reluctant to work together, they soon realise that their opposing skills can be useful in trying to discover who exactly is behind these series of murders.  Inevitably they fall in love! 

Their investigations bring them into contact with the secret worlds of Incels and White Supremacists and some of these characters are truly scary.  With names such as The Exterminator we know what we are dealing with, but the author involves other characters who appear reasonably straight forward but reminiscences about their upbringing and childhood experiences hint at darker forces at work. 

This novel involves very up to day issues such as media frenzy and the rise of Racist and Anti-Immigrant rhetoric and the final pages reveal an original revelatory twist.  A psychological thriller with more than a hint of darkness.
------
Reviewer: Toni Russell

Michael Wendroff is an author and marketing consultant and has an MBA from NYU. His background is running marketing and advertising for Fortune 500 companies, and he now runs a global consulting practice (one of his clients is a $4 billion firm headquartered in India). He has homes in New York City and Sarasota.

Toni Russell  is a retired teacher who has lived in London all her life and loves the city.  She says, ‘I enjoy museums, galleries and the theatre but probably my favourite pastime is reading.  I found myself reading detective fiction almost for the first time during lockdown and have particularly enjoyed old fashioned detective fiction rather than the nordic noir variety.  I am a member of a book club at the local library and have previously attended literature classes at our local Adult Education Centre.  I am married with three children and five grandchildren