The Guise of Another by Allen Eskens

The Guise of Another.  Allen Eskens. Prometheus Books. October 2015. 269 pp.  ISBN#: 9781633880764.

Nothing is more embarrassing than being an excellent detective respected by your peers in Minnesota and now shunned.  Alexander Rupert hears kind words from his former peers but the conversation is always laced with the shadow of his awaiting a corruption hearing.  Now he’s working in the Fraud Division and at least he now has a case to sink his teeth into, one to distract him from the tension regarding the charges against him and wondering what his future holds – or doesn’t hold.

Even worse is the fact that his wife treats him like a stranger now, cold and avoiding him on a daily basis.  Is she fooling around with another man?  Rupert fears the worst which makes him even more forlorn. What ever happened to unconditional love and support? At first he spends his days replaying the past, both about the job and his wife. But now he’s got a chance to prove himself and he proceeds, as he always does, with everything he has in his powers and skills.

This then is the story of searching for who stole the identity of James Proctor and then wound up dead.  To say more would be to spoil one tension-riddled story that involves a hit man who seems to have killing in his genetic makeup.  It will be Rupert’s brother who is truly there for the search and then the grand finale of this mystery!

Criminal fiction is often predictable and stereotypical – not so here.  Allen Eskens knows exactly when to lay on the mystery and when to insert scenes of careful thought and planning.  Well done, Allen Eskens – great read for those who love mysteries, adventure and crime stories with a punch!