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RATING: |
Date of Release: June 2003 |
Publisher: Pan Macmillan |
Review Source: |
First, there's Frank Koehler, who shot and killed two proprietors of a New York restaurant, Ritchie Glennon and Pete McGinn, in cold blood one night on 18 February 1970, after he had an argument with them.
Then there is Andy Rosenzweig, a homicide detective who, almost accidentally,
was reminded of the murder of his friend Glennon and remembered that the case
was still "cold," or unsolved.
Determined to break the ice surrounding Koehler's disappearance - he was written
off as dead by New York police - Rosenzweig reopened the file and ended up catching
Koehler on 30 July 1997, as he was returning to New York from his exile in California.
This book is a quick read, but does answer some very disturbing questions, particularly about the psychology and mindset of a killer. Koehler's murder of Glennon and McGinn was not the first time he had killed someone: in mid-1945, when he was fifteen years old, he had killed his accomplice in theft for backstabbing him. On the side, he engaged in petty and grand theft, eventually landing himself Mob connections until he had to flee New York. Once captured Koehler never thought of why he was in prison, or why exactly he was being punished.
The strength of this book is the study of the psychology of a low-life killer: unrepentant, unremorseful, and unsympathetic to what he did, instead blaming his family, Rosenzweig, and even God for his failings. Whereas Rosenzweig comes across as a modern-day crime fighting hero, who won't rest until the criminal is brought down - no matter how many years have lapsed.
A startling read...
