Mystery Scene Magazine # 91

--Betty Webb

Sometimes terror seems just one bad decision away, as it does in Edward Falco's Wolf Point, (Unbridled Books, $23.95). For no good reason, Tom T. Walker, a wealthy, middle-aged businessman who has decided to ruin what is left of his messed-up life, picks up two hitchhikers on the side of the road and in no time, finds a gun pointed at the back of his head. At first we think, "Well, duh, dude," but then we realize something else is afoot. Instead of panicking, Walker makes the best of the situation by having sex with the girl and cementing a very odd business deal with the girl's punk boyfriend. With the deft touch of a master, the author slowly reveals the reasons for Walker's seemingly cavalier attitude toward the possibility of violence that his young hitchhikers represent, and it has something to do with a certain photograph the authorities have found on Walker's home computer. This troubling, brilliant book reminds us that few people know themselves quite as well as they think they do.