What You See by Hank Phillippi Ryan / Reviewed by Kelly Saderholm
Killer Nashville Book of the Day
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Hank Phillippi Ryan
What You See by Hank Phillippi Ryan
Reviewed by Kelly Saderholm
In Hank Phillippi Ryan’s latest book, What You See (the fourth in her Jane Ryland series), almost nothing is what it appears to be. A man is stabbed in broad daylight in front of dozens of witnesses, and yet Detectives Jake Brogan and Paul DeLuca find that the pictures and surveillance cameras tell conflicting stories.
Jane Ryland has a job once again as a reporter, but finds her work coming into conflict with Jake’s investigations, causing them to struggle with the tension between their competing careers and their relationship. At the same time, Jane’s family is dealing with a serious crisis. Jane’s sister Melissa is getting married, and the flower girl, nine-year-old Gracie has been taken by her step-dad. Is the little girl, who will soon be Melissa's stepdaughter, in danger? Or is it a harmless lark? No one seems to be able to find out.
Ryan deftly weaves all these plot lines together, plus a couple more involving a dark conspiracy of extortion, and another family torn apart by its secrets, into an engaging, riveting read. Not only does Ryan carry the reader along a fast-paced story full of twists and turns, but she also explores themes of modern life such as surveillance, and instant communication, and the ways these can be manipulated so that nothing is quite what it seems.
Hank Phillippi Ryan has the personal expertise to write such a novel, as she, as an investigative reporter for Boston's NBC affiliate WHDH-TV, won many awards for her reporting. Her best selling suspense novels have also won many awards. What You See was published by Forge Hardcover, New York, NY, in October 2015.
Kelly Saderholm has written, blogged, and lectured about aspects of the mystery novel. She has moderated panels and presented papers at literary conferences, on both the Mystery Novel and Urban Fantasy. She is currently shifting from writing about mystery fiction to writing actual mystery fiction, and is working on a novel, as well as a non-fiction book dealing with Folklore in the American South. She is a recipient of a Kentucky Foundation for Women grant. She lives in South Central Kentucky with her family and two feline office assistants.
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