cover image Eight in the Box

Eight in the Box

Raffi Yessayan, . . Ballantine, $25 (274pp) ISBN 978-0-345-50261-2

Defense attorney Yessayan's promising debut nicely juggles a large cast of attorneys and cops, though at times it comes close to sounding like a legal spinoff of the TV show Friends . Someone is killing young women in Boston, or at least young women are disappearing, leaving behind no trace except bathtubs full of blood. The police are pretty sure the victims must be dead, but no bodies have been found. The killer, who's identified for the reader as Richter, is doing something with the bodies that involves embalming, but it remains unclear what he's up to until the very end. Extended forays into race relations, the plight of the poor and questions of legal responsibility tend to slow the action. Hopefully, Yessayan, who doesn't stray beyond the conventional bounds of the legal thriller/serial killer subgenre, will strike out in his own direction next time. (June)