A Mortal Terror

July 11, 2011
Historical background almost overpowers the personal foreground in Benn's ambitious sixth Billy Boyle WWII mystery (after 2010's Rag and Bone). As the U.S. Army fights its way up the Italian boot, Billy, a former Boston cop who's now a military investigator for his Uncle Ike (i.e., General Eisenhower), pursues a serial killer who's targeting Allied officers. Combat and the psycho steadily reduce the list of GI suspects. Billy realizes that the murderer is playing games with him after he discovers that his kid brother, Danny, is a new replacement somehow assigned to the platoon he's investigating. Unfortunately, as Billy realizes, looking for one particular killer during a war is difficult, especially in the bloody, chaotic Anzio beachhead. Benn tries hard to keep the focus on Billy's emotional crisis, but readers may find it easy to be distracted by the larger conflict.