What Doesn't Kill Us: A McKenzie Novel (Twin Cities P.I. Mac McKenzie Novels, #18)

by David Housewright

Rushmore McKenzie, former St. Paul police detective and unexpected millionaire, does the occasional, unofficial private detective work-mostly favors for friends. He's faced kidnappers, domestic terrorists, art thieves, among others, and had a hand in solving some of the most perplexing mysteries of the Twin Cities. But this time, his prodigious luck and intuition may have finally failed him: He was shot in the back by an unknown assailant and lies in a coma.

His childhood friend, Lt. Bobby Dunston of the St. Paul Police Department, assigns his best detective to the case while other figures-on both sides of the law-pursue the truth. What was he investigating, what did he learn that so threatened someone that they tried to kill him? What do a sketchy bar in the wrong part of town, the area's prominent tech millionaire family, drug dealers, investment bankers, and a mysterious woman who left an unknown package for McKenzie all have in common? And the answer to that might be what stands between life and death.

• ISBN10: 1250756995
• ISBN13: 9781250756992
• Publish Date: 25 May 2021
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 5 April 2024
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: St Martin's Press
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[annieb123]

Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

What Doesn't Kill Us is the 18th PI procedural mystery featuring McKenzie written by David Housewright. Released 25th May 2021 by Macmillan on their Minotaur imprint, it's 352 pages and is available in hardcover, audio, and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links throughout. I've really become enamored of ebooks with interactive formats lately; it makes it so easy to find information with the search function.

This is a departure for this series because it's told in first person retrospective. McKenzie himself has been shot and is unconscious and in a coma for most of the book. Though it's the 18th book in the series, it works pretty well as a standalone and the author is adept enough to give enough background without overloading readers with unnecessary detail.

The plotting is well crafted with several subplots including solving McKenzie's shooting, the criminal underworld, and a well connected ultra-rich tech fortune family complete with infighting and inheritance disagreements. McKenzie is an inveterate favor-granter to his friends and this time he's gotten himself mixed up in something that's nearly gotten him killed.

The whole book felt like a visit with characters the fans of the series have been following for almost 20 years. I did appreciate that the author didn't leave the "did he die or not" plot element hanging, he resolved it from the first page, with McKenzie himself narrating. There's plenty of dramatic tension to be found throughout and I also liked that the supporting ensemble of characters get a starring role in this book.

Recommended for fans of PI procedurals. The language is R rated. There's some light sexual content, but nothing on page. There is some violence and blood.

Four and a half stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.