"Special crime thriller"

Ward Hopkins returns home to Dyserburg, Montana only to step into what seems like an episode of the Twilight Zone when he finds a book taped to the underside of a recliner. Contained inside the book is a note that states his parents aren't dead. Tearing the house apart, he stumbles upon a video showing his parents and two twins, one who they leave behind in a crowded area. Unable to believe his parents are capable of such an act, he along with his CIA friend Bobby discovers that there is no record of Ward's birth.

While Bobby and Ward seek the truth, a teenage girl is kidnapped in Santa Monica with the FBI believing they are once again dealing with the Upright Man serial killer. Former cop John Zandt and his friend FBI agent Nina look to find Sarah before she is killed like the three others before her. John and Nina cross paths with Bobby and Ward. They begin working together making the necessary connections to find the Upright Man and his supporters the Straw Men.

Eerie, gothic like suspense that has more realistic twists and turns than the world's most serpentine roller-coaster, THE STRAW MEN never slows the ride until even Yogi would agree it's over. From the very beginning readers connect with a befuddled Ward at a very fundamental level. Fans root for him and his cohorts to succeed in their interconnected missions that seem so hopeless. Michael Marshall's debut novel is a very special reading experience for crime thriller fans.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted July 15, 2002

Summary

In Palmerston, Pennsylvania, two men in long coats walk calmly into a crowded fast food restaurant-then, slowly and methodically, gun down sixty- eight people. They take time to reload. On the Promenade of Santa Monica, California, a teenaged girl gives sightseeing tips to a distinguished English tourist. She won't be going home tonight. In Dyersburg, Montana, a grief-stricken son tries to make sense of the accident that killed his parents-then finds a note stuffed in his father's favorite chair. It says, "We're not dead." Three seemingly unrelated events, these are the first signs of an unimaginable network of fear that will lead one unlikely hero to a chilling confrontation with The Straw Men. No one knows who they are-or why they kill. But they must be stopped. Michael Marshall's electrifying debut novel is an instant masterpiece of modern suspense. An epic thriller for anyone who has feared that someone is watching us.