Jonathon Stride is a homicide detective in beautiful but cold Duluth, Minnesota. Already nagged by one unsolved disappearance of a teenage girl, he is driven to solve the disappearance of another, the step-daughter of a prominent local banking exec. Soon the banking exec comes under suspicion when clues all start pointing to him...but there is no body, and something is not quite right...

Freeman entertains us with a convoluted story of suspects, alibis, and dead ends. In the course of events, some suspects die, others are exonerated much too quickly and come back to bite the detective in the ass. Most of the principle character in the story operate in mixed couples....and the sexual tension leads to much sleeping around, more than is really plausible or necessary for the story. Of course, that just adds to the complications...

The ending was a surprise, always good for such novels. A minor, yet creepy character on the periphery would have seemed to be the "surprise" culprit, but in the end he was perhaps the only non-involved character in the entire story. Many of the characters in the story are, well, Immoral, and I wouldn't exclude Detective Stride from that group. But hey, he winds up hooking up with another detective, this one from a much more interesting 'burg (Las Vegas), and in the end moves there, just in time for the sequel,which is next up on my reading list. ( )

"Immoral," first published in 2005 by the Minotaur imprint of St. Martin’s Press, was Brian Freeman’s first novel, though that barely shows in a rough edge or two. The mystery is so intriguing, with so many unexpected turns, that it overshadows anything else.

The puzzle set for the detectives in this story is apparently simple: Jonathan Stride and his partner Maggie Bei try to discover what happened to Rachel, the second girl to disappear from the same Duluth, Minnesota high school in the past year. But the simplicity of that quest is deceptive.

The past year has been a rough one for Stride. He’s lost his beloved wife to cancer, had to come to an understanding with Maggie, who tried to comfort him in an inappropriate way, and still hasn’t resolved the disappearance of Kerry the first high school girl, before Rachel also disappears. And the press is constantly breathing down his neck.

It’s almost certain that Rachel has been murdered; all the circumstantial evidence suggests this, despite the lack of a body. But however strong the evidence, it seems to alter its shape and dissipate like smoke as they finally bring a suspect to trial - until the trial itself comes to an end that shocks prosecution and defence alike.

Freeman draws his characters well. Stride flounders convincingly through the upheavals of his personal life, yet perseveres with the help of Maggie and Serena Dial, a Las Vegas cop who eventually gets drawn into the case. Even the missing Rachel is portrayed in considerable depth, as both a sexually irresistible girl and a thoroughly despicable person. But the real gem is defence attorney Archibald Gale, who can do wonders with a couple of innocent-seeming questions and a little innuendo, not to mention a keen eye for facts.

The last third of the book is where things get just a bit choppy, even though the plot pretty much requires it to be structured as it is. A certain gap in the time flow leaves the reader feeling a bit of a disconnect due to the slight shifting of the relationships of the characters while we were “away.” We’re never given a really plausible reason why Rachel was the way she was. And the second last twist in the story seems just a little too…handy, especially for the resolution of Stride’s own relationship issues, even though it’s technically plausible. Yet the very last development, resulting in the solving of the final mystery, is cleverly done, and wraps things up very satisfactorily indeed.

Brian Freeman is one of those suspense writers who started as something else first: in his case, as a marketing executive and business writer, leading an award-winning communications and marketing program at the international law firm of Faegre & Benson. (It could almost make you wonder just how buttoned-down his job was, that he finally broke out of it to write suspense novels — except that he’s been writing them for himself, honing his craft, since he was in grade six!) "Immoral" won the Macavity Award for Best First Novel, and was also a finalist for the Edgar, Dagger, Anthony, and Barry Awards. Not too shabby, eh, for one’s first novel?

I enjoyed this book so much that I immediately grabbed two of the next three volumes in Freeman’s ongoing chronicle of Jonathan Stride’s cases. I can’t wait to finish them — and I hope they’re followed by many more. ( )

IMMORAL was my debut novel, published in 2004. It was chosen as International Book of the Month and published in 17 languages. The book won the Macavity Award and was a finalist for the Edgar, Dagger, Barry, and Anthony Awards for best first novel. Write to me at brian@bfreemanbooks.com or visit my web site (www.bfreemanbooks.com) or find me on Facebook.

A great page turning book, I kept reading late into the night wanting to know where the next twist would lead. ( )

Great book-- I like to find new authors. Characters a little on the flawed side and a good mystery. My two favorite things in a book! I also enjoyed the cold Minnesota setting. ( )