The Pawn: A Patrick Bowers Thriller
by Steven James
Grand Rapids: Revell, 2007, 427 pp., paperback.

Steven James kicks off his FBI homicide trilogy with The Pawn, an intense thriller featuring agent Patrick Bowers, an environmental criminologist. Bowers analyzes the timing and location of crimes in order to track down serial criminals, especially murderers. His field is controversial among his peers, so he's constantly under pressure to produce results or find his approach given less weight than approaches such as profiling.

When police in North Carolina start finding dead young women with chess pawns on or near their bodies, Bowers is called in to investigate. Before long the state's governor is linked in some way to what's happening, along with a fascinating storyline involving the People's Temple cult famous for the Jonestown mass suicide.

Bowers' personal life adds depth and complexity to the story. A recent widower, he's been left with a rebellious 16-year-old step-daughter struggling with her feelings of loss and anger along with a desire for acceptance from a man who is too often gone because of his work.

The Pawn takes an unusual literary approach, alternating between Bowers' first person perspective and a third person point-of-view. That took a little getting used to, but ends up being an effective way to tell a story with some of the strong points of both approaches.

The Christian aspects in the book are subtle, and some of the murder descriptions are horrifically graphic, resulting in an "R" rating from my perspective. If you don't have a weak stomach, The Pawn will keep you reading, and eager to tackle the remaining stories in the series.

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