Downfall

Starred review from January 1, 2023

Set in early 1980s New York City, this thriller by Rubinstein ("Mad Dog" trilogy; The Lovers' Tango) capitalizes on collective memory of the gritty city portrayed each evening in the news, thoroughly grounding readers in time and place. Rick Shepherd is a physician who comes upon an active crime scene at the door to his Manhattan office. While watching the evening news, he learns the identity of the victim, a man he does not know but is his doppelg�nger. What seems an unsettling coincidence becomes much more when Rick's father, also a physician, is murdered two nights later in Brooklyn in the same manner as Rick's doppelg�nger. Is this the work of a serial killer, or is Rick somehow a target? Menacing phone calls to his house point to a personal vendetta against him. Newly paired detectives Nager and Callaghan catch the case, complicated by the cross-borough connection. Working in parallel, Rick and the detectives attempt to find links between the victims and to Rick himself, while the new partners come to their own realization. VERDICT Part psychological thriller and part police procedural, this novel reads like a TV series worth recording so as not to miss an episode.--Laura A.B. Cifelli

Copyright 2023 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 13, 2023
Physician Rick Shepherd, the protagonist of this strong thriller set in 1983 New York City from Rubinstein (Assassin’s Lullaby), regrets having joined a Manhattan practice, because its orthopedic surgeon managing partner insists that his colleagues pack their schedules with nonstop patient appointments, even at the cost of providing lower-quality care, to maximize the bottom line. But those work concerns, which lead Rick to question his choice of profession, recede in importance when he returns to the office after a coffee break to find a man has been fatally shot just outside his door. Worse is to come. First, Rick, who was getting hang-up calls at home, learns that the dead man, elementary school teacher Robert Harper, looks enough like himself to be his twin, leading the police to wonder whether Rick was the intended target. Then, just two nights after Robert’s death, Rick learns that his physician father has been shot dead while making a house call. Rubinstein makes Rick a well-rounded and plausible lead, and the action builds to a satisfying ending. Lisa Unger readers will be pleased.