Spiral

By Jeremiah Healy

Book Overview

The creator of "exciting, thoughtful, wily fiction" (The Washington Post), Jeremiah Healy has won critical raves for his John Francis Cuddy novels, "a superior series" (The New York Times Book Review). Now Healy pushes the envelope of mystery writing with a soul-searching tale that plunges Cuddy into his own private nightmare.
Some mysteries have no answers -- like why an airplane falls out of the sky, and why the woman you love was onboard that flight. When unfathomable tragedy strikes Boston private investigator John Francis Cuddy, all he can do is begin to grieve. There's no revenge. No perp. And no cure except time.
But when Cuddy is jarred by a call for help from an old Vietnam-era comrade, time is a luxury he can't afford. Cuddy goes because he has to. And what he finds in Fort Lauderdale is a tragedy that rivals his own: a proud vet brought down by a stroke, searching for his granddaughter's killer.
The girl was found dead in Colonel Nicolas Helides' heavily guarded mansion on the Intracoastal Waterway. Thirteen years old and far from innocent, Veronica Helides was hardly protected by her family's wealth. Used by her own father to revive his music career and the fortunes of a band named Spiral, Veronica had been molded into a sexually provocative rock starlet. By the time someone drowned her at her grandfather's birthday party, murder was merely the last crime committed against her.
Now Cuddy is picking apart a cast of players in the life of Colonel Helides and the granddaughter everyone called "Very." From Helides' younger, depressive son to former groupies; from a mysterious spiritual advisor to the woman who married the colonel for his money and the license it would buy her, Cuddy is seeing the worst of human nature at a time when his own heart is broken in two. If that were not enough, the killing of a precocious victim may not have been the isolated act it first appeared.
In a powerful and mesmerizing novel of uncontrollable love, rage, and loyalty among families and friends, John Francis Cuddy isn't just trying to catch a killer -- he's trying to stop himself from free-falling into the ultimate human darkness.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0671009559
• ISBN13: 9780671009557
• Release Date: August 1999
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Contemporary Noir at Its Best

While I was touring for my first mystery novel, many readers compared my work to that of Jeremiah Healy's. Such comparisons pleased me greatly, and SPIRAL clearly demonstrates what I admire most about Healy's works.John Cuddy is still mourning the death of his love, Nancy Meagher, when an old friend from his Vietnam service calls him on behalf of their wartime commander Nicolas Helides, who is now confined to a wheelchair. Helides' thirteen-year-old granddaughter was murdered. The girl's father planned to use his daughter to revitalize his old rock band. As Cuddy investigates the teengirl's death, he finds himself confronting greed, jealousy, lust, and ambition. SPIRAL is perhaps the darkest of Healy's Cuddy series, yet, in this mystery writer's opinion, it is one of his best. It is a magnificent work. Slide your mouse over to the purchase button and order it today.

Spiral

I loved the book and I love the character of John Cuddy, however, I was extremely disappointed that his new love, Nancy Meagher, died. I loved the interaction building between the two of them throughout the novels and will definitely miss it continuing. I think John Cuddy has enough to deal with without having to find a new love and I feel that he needs love and companionship in his life. He will now be afraid to love anyone else again in fear that he will lose her. I hope that since they did not find the body, that Nancy somehow comes back.

John Francis Cuddy returns with a vengence

Jeremiah Healy has brought his erstwhile series character, John Francis Cuddy, Boston PI, back. After losing the second love of his life to a plane crash, he is called upon to help his Vietnam commander, one Nicholas Helides, now wheelchair bound, determine who murdered his 13 year rock singer/sexual teaser granddaughter. Cuddy finds himself in Fort Lauderdale, a place usually thought of as a bedroom community for Miami, but which below its staid surface boils like hot oil into which drops of water has fallen. Cuddy must deal with a world-class dysfunctional family, cops with a cruelty gene, violent rednecks, hookers, and the rock group Spiral, whose problems would take longer to list than the side effects to Viagra. Cuddy displays just how tough he is, as he takes more than his share of physical abuse from a number of people. Healy has pushed the envelope in dealing with issues relating to children and their sexuality. He pulls it off brilliantly and without being exploitive. That's the mark of a great writer, which Jeremiah Healy again proves he is. This is definitely one to read.

Gripping! Can't put it down!

Dark, passionate, gripping are only three words to describe a thriller impossible to put down! One of Healy's best yet!