Pulse

August 6, 2018
Set in 1976 Boston, this suspense novel from Harvey (Brighton) combines a gritty police story with elements of speculative fiction in a way that doesn’t quite jell. Daniel Fitzsimmons, a 16-year-old high school student who has been sharing a place with his Harvard football star brother, Harry, takes a room in the apartment of Simon Lane, who claims to be a former Harvard professor of theoretical physics and suggests to Daniel that quantum entanglement may also be possible between two people. When Harry is murdered in Boston’s red-light district, the police have an obvious suspect, but the medical examiner finds inconsistencies. Meanwhile, Daniel has been having strange experiences—transforming into animals and believing he has a quasi-mystical connection to some people—though it’s unclear whether these actually occur or are hallucinations. Harvey often writes beautifully, even tenderly, but the ending will leave readers questioning what exactly happened and why. This standalone will appeal to those willing to suspend some disbelief, but not to anyone who wants everything to make sense. Agent: David Gernert, Gernert Co.

Starred review from October 1, 2018

Harvey (Brighton) returns with his eighth novel, a crime thriller with a dash of quantum physics and spirituality. The main character, 16-year-old Daniel Fitzsimmons, has had a rough life to say the least. His parents are dead and it's just been Daniel and his older brother Harry since they were little. Then Harry, a stand-out football player at Harvard, is murdered, leaving Daniel alone and in the middle of his murder investigation. Daniel battles his intense feelings of grief as well as some strange powers he is not sure how to control--or if they are even real. Two veteran detectives, "Bark" Jones and Tommy Dillon, are assigned to the case. They are stunned when they interview Daniel and find out he claims to have known about his brother's murder before it even occurred. VERDICT This well-researched novel set in 1970s Boston is a real page-turner. With twists that sometimes seem to come from another world, it's sure to keep readers interested. [See Prepub Alert, 4/23/18.]--Joni Gheen, LadyJ's Bookish Nook, McConnelsville, OH

Copyright 2018 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2018
Boston in the mid-1970s. A university football player is murdered. A couple of homicide cops work the case, following the few meager leads, but someone else is also trying to find the boy's killer: the victim's younger brother, Daniel, who can see things before they happen and who might be able to solve what the police can't. Harvey, an investigative journalist who has written several well-received crime novels (including, most recently, the Boston-set Brighton?, 2016), gives us a gritty mystery with an element of fantasy that, rather than detracting from the story's realism, actually supports it: we totally believe in Daniel's ability, which means that when Harvey starts layering on the twists and turns, we marvel at, rather than disbelieve, the revelations that follow. Harvey takes some risks here?a serpentine, fantasy-tinged plot is always in danger of running off its tracks?but he never loses control of his narrative, and readers just might find themselves a bit out of breath at the end of the ride. An ambitious, brilliantly successful novel and a textbook example of how to make crime fiction and fantasy work as a team.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)