McKenzie has been shot and nearly died during surgery. He is now in an induced coma. His many many friends rally around to investigate. But what was he doing in a seedy bar in a seedy side of town in the first place?

We follow the hunt as it occurs, with the past folded in as needed, told by McKenzie himself, in the present tense as if it were happening in the present. That sounds complicated, which it isn't in practice, although it is an elaborate narrative exercise. I'm not sure I like the time tangle but it is a good story.

I received a review copy of "What Doesn't Kill Us: Mac McKenzie 18" by David Housewright from St. Martin's – Minotaur through NetGalley.com. ( )

This is the story of how the friends of McKenzie investigate his shooting. McKenzie is a former policeman who is now rich. But he still does investigative favors for his friends. What was he investigating the night he was shot, and for whom? The answer involves an extremely troubled family from the rich side of Minneapolis. The plot is twisty. The story is really well done considering that the “star” of the series spends most of the book in a coma but still manages to lend us his thoughts throughout...so, the reader knows he will eventually awaken without brain damage spoiling a major plot point. It was good to see his friends ...and some not so much friends...gather to help find the shooter. ( )

What Doesn’t Kill Us is the 18th installment in the P.I. Rushmore MacKenzie series and a real surprise. Early in the book, Mac is shot and spends the majority of the book in a medically induced coma while his friends and associates do the detecting. This gives us several separate investigations tracking the various threads that take them far afield while circling back with delicious synchronicity.

His best friend is police Lt. Bobby Dunston who absolutely cannot lead the investigation so he assigns his partner, a woman decidedly not fond of Mac. But there are the people he has done favors for in the past and they are returning the favor with brilliance and diligence. It is a delight to see how the disparate investigations following different trails all end up at the same place. Frankly, there is a hilarious, nearly slapstick denouement. I loved it.

I love Mac and it almost feels disloyal to love a book where he is unconscious through most of it, but I loved What Doesn’t Kill Us. It was a delight to see his friends take up for him. I loved how some of the less-than-legitimate friends were just as effective as the cops. So I love camp and I love capers and this felt like both and with Mac narrating the entire story in the past tense, there was no real sense of jeopardy to temper our enjoyment of the caper.

I received an e-galley of What Doesn’t Kill Us from the publisher through NetGalley.

What Doesn’t Kill Us at St. Martin’s Press | Macmillan
David Housewright author site
From the Grave by David Housewright review
Darkness, Sing Me a Song by David Housewright review

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2021/06/14/9781250756992/ ( )

law-enforcement, attempted-murder, secrets, family-dynamics, Minnesota, St Paul, procedural, friendship, crime-fiction*****

Rushmore McKenzie isn't the one doing the diligence because he has been shot in the back and is in dire straits in the ICU. But everyone from his wife to all those who worked with or love and/or owe him one are doing everything they can to trace his steps for the past few weeks to find the Why, Who, and more. McKenzie was a St Paul police detective, but now is a sometime PI and is wealthy. The investigation takes them into the world of big business, weird families, high class drug rings, and more (like learning about liver transplants). In the previous book I felt like I was missing something but this one fills in any blanks and is very real and enjoyable. World class storytelling!
I requested and received a free ebook copy from St. Martin's Press/Minotaur Books via NetGalley. Thank you! ( )