 |
|
April 10
Hardback
• Paperback
• Previous Reviews
Run Jane Run
by Maureen Tan
Discussion
• Other Books
• Buy Online
|
Reviewed by Jeanne M. Jacobson
Sequels to successful first novels had better be good, and the better the
series opener, the greater the challenge for its author the second time
around. A.K.A. Jane entered the mystery scene with a bang in 1997; now Jane
is back, and Maureen Tan has achieved another explosive triumph.
Ingenuity begins with her titles: a mere 7 letters, then an extravagant leap
to 11 -- but what a wealth of information is concealed there! Nothing could
be more apt than the opening "A.K.A," for Jane Nichols is "also known as" an
array of others. We first glimpse her as silent, almost-seven-years-old
Janie, trying vainly to recapture memories of a life-shattering day.
"I was there, they kept saying. I had seen my parents and the driver killed.
I was too small, they said, so I was left alive. ...Think! they kept saying.
There must have been something. A crime against the Crown. Didn't I want to
help them catch the bad people?"
Grown-up Jane joins the ranks of the tormenting questioners who are adept at
creating and massaging guilt. She is I.R.A. terrorist Molly Shanks, then
airline stewardess Moura O'Neil, becoming these invented women until they
outlive their usefulness and she dies and is buried, and dies and is buried
again. Amazingly, Jane has yet another persona. Others are created for her;
this she has created for herself. She is Max Murdock, cigar-chomping author
of mysteries starring Chicago tough guy private eye Andrew Jax (series
opener: Jax and Diamonds). It's Max who enables her to leave England for a
writers' convention in Georgia, and almost to break away from the secret
service and her cruel/kind controller -- whose name, Mac, turns Jane's
chosen pen name into a pun. Despite her struggles, she remains Mac's.
In Georgia, Jane encounters Savannah police chief Alex Callaghan, and further
plot intricacies unfurl. Alex and Jane are sexually attracted to one another,
but bitter experience has taught Jane distrust. In the end, two men seem to
be both caring and reliable: Alex, and John Wiggins, a secret agent
dispatched from England, who backs Jane in a dramatic roof-top shoot-out.
Run Jane Run is a tightly linked sequel: here Jane runs from her past, from
the risks of present entanglements, and from the faceless, threatening killer
who is either pursuing her, or using her to attack Alex. Transatlantic travel
enhances the running theme. Jane is in England, having quit the life she was
beginning to establish in the United States, when she receives an urgent call
from Alex's sister: he is hospitalized, dying from a drive-by shooter's
bullets. Once again in America, Mac forces her back to England. (At this
point the vignette that provides a put-down of airport security, featuring
dear little old Grammy Wiggins, carrying knitting bag, grandchildren's
photos, and more sinister stuff, is hilarious as well as thought-provoking.)
Because of Tan's extraordinarily deft plotting, Run Jane Run, in which Jane
finds the answers to the mystery of her parents' murder, is clear and
thrilling on its own: the sequel can be enjoyed as an introduction to the
series. How Tan can maintain the brilliance of her first two books remains a
mystery for which her readers eagerly await the answer.
The Drood Review of Mystery features reviews of
current mysteries, along with comprehensive guides to
new titles. A six-issue (one year) subscription is $17 in
the US, $21 in Canada and $27 overseas. For a limited
time, mention MysteryNet and receive a seventh issue
free! Make your check payable and send it to:
The Drood Review
306 South Main Suite 1C-107
Ann Arbor,
Michigan 48104
|
|
|
|
