A cold day in paradise summary from 1-56 - Book Report/Review Example

Book Report/Review, English Topic: A Cold Day in Paradise summary from 1-56 The book begins with a grim note. Steve Hamilton in A Cold Day in Paradise writes about Alex McKnight thus: “There is a bullet in my chest, less than a centimeter from my heart. I don’t think about it much anymore. It’s just a part of me now. But every once in a while, on a certain kind of night, I remember that bullet”. (1) Remembering that bullet means recollection of his past, the violent incidents in which he was involved professionally and the attempt on his life.

But the effects of the bullet, whether it is for an ordinary individual or for a professional police official, are one and the same. In the present case the difference between life and death was less than a centimeter and since then McKnight has been living dangerously in the company of his near fatal injury. It constantly reminds him of his partner’s death. That is one aspect of the story. With the conviction of Maximilian Rose for his crimes, he is serving the jail sentence. But a murderer with Rose’s distinctive crime-style is on the killing spree.

He knows the private details of the murderer, and the signature blood-red rose left on his doorstep provides the grim reminder as to what could be in store in the future. McKnight must solve this crime-riddle. This book is mystery and crime genre and it sets the reader thinking about the possible solutions McKnight would find for his multifarious problems which are part of his profession. His immediate problem is to come to the assistance of his wealthy friend and a habitual gambler who is convinced that McKnight is his best friend.

He had gone to a native motel to pay off a bookmaker and he found him slain with his throat slit. He lost nerve and requested McKnight to assist him from serious danger to his life. The killing of the bookmaker is followed by a series of other killings. As such McKnight is worried how Rose is able to run a parallel criminal force, while being imprisoned. In the beginning chapter of the book Hamilton has created an interesting suspenseful mystery. The two bullets near his heart and his survival mean something more in the life of Alex McKnight.

After putting in eight years’ service in the Detroit Police Department, he took an early retirement to live a quiet life in a small town in Michigan known as Paradise where his father had left some property. A lawyer there offers him the assignment of a private investigator. With the killing of the bookmaker and the crime wave rising again, in the shadow of Rose (interesting he is still lodged in a high security prison), it is time for McKnight to put into practical use his latent but dormant skills as a detective!

The initial chapters of the book are chilling and provide interesting insight in the process of investigation. The pressures of investigation are so tough for the detectives and often they try to soothe it through unscientific procedures. Look at this insightful comment: “The pills will help you one more time. Like an old friend. They’ll make everything go white. No more blood. The red will fade away. From red to pink as you go higher and higher. And then the pink will fade away into pure white as you reach the clouds” (22).

Another example is about the inability of the bartenders to remember all the customers for the last three years: “The bartender was no help. I asked him if he had been there that past Monday. It took him a full minute to figure that one out, so I didnt think hed be able to remember if there were any suspicious characters there that night. So I just paid the man and headed down to Uttleys office” (46). The author is capable of building tension in the description of small and big incidents right from the beginning of this haunting story.

Works CitedHamilton, Steve. A Cold Day in Paradise .St. Martins Press/New York, 2012; Print