The Saint of Wolves and Butchers

by Alex Grecian
388 pgs

The Saint of Wolves and Butchers is the first stand-alone novel by Alex Grecian. His previous four books were all part of his Victorian-era "Murder Squad Series," which follows the exploits of the officers who failed to capture Jack the Ripper, a series I've enjoyed a lot.

The book begins when Skottie Foster, a Kansas Highway Patrol trooper, pulls over a Jeep being driven by Travis Roan. Roan was sent to Kansas by the Noah Roan Foundation, an organization that hunts down former Nazis living in the United States and brings them to justice. Roan is following the trail of his father, who was sent there weeks ago to confirm a report of a sighting of a man named Rudolph Bormann, a Nazi doctor and assistant administrator of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp during World War II. No one has heard from Roan's father for quite some time, and Roan has been sent to first find out what became of him, and second, to find out whether the sighting of Bormann was legitimate.

It is revealed right away that Bormann is indeed living in rural Kansas now and going by the name of Rudy Goodman. he's the founder of a controversial right-wing church in the area and even at 94 years old, he's a powerful man in the community.

I was really hoping to enjoy The Saint of Wolves and Butchers more than I did. It's not a bad book by any mes. But it would have been a much better book had Grecian incorporated some twists or surprises in the plot. There's no mystery around who Rudy Goodman once was. And there's really no suspense regarding what his fate will eventually be. On top of that, Roan was a pretty boring protagonist. If this is the first book in a series featuring him, I don't think I'll continue reading it. I'm hoping Grecian quickly returns to the Murder Squad.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆