"The Last Nightingale" by Anthony Flacco: A Book Review

The strengths ofThe Last Nightingale by Anthony Flacco are not what you'd expect from a murder mystery based around a serial killer named "The Surgeon." The two greatest advantages this book has are its period setting (the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire) and the relationship between two of the main characters, Sergeant Randall Blackburn and Shane Nightingale, a 12-year old boy who becomes the unexpected target of the killer's next thrill. The relationship that develops between the two loners--Sergeant Blackburn and Shane--is the real heart of the story. Each helps the other out in a city of wandering ghosts, people so devestated by what has happened to the city and their lives that they can hardly look beyond their own grief and ruined lives to help another.

Author Anthony Flacco makes a big impression with his opening descriptions of the 1906 quake and subsequent fires. He tells this so convincingly that, as readers, we can begin to imagine what the city and the earthquake's chaos must feel like.  The first attack by "The Surgeon" is set amidst this chaos, and Shane Nightingale is there to witness the horror, unbeknownst to the killer. This, of course, makes him a target later in the story. Through Shane's eyes we see the individual heartache that both the serial killer and the earthquake have wrought.

Through the eyes of Sergeant Blackburn, we see the city's problems at the administrative level: coping with the physical destruction, the loss of life, raging fires, the possibility of the spread of disease, and the continuing challenges of policing a wayward city. His quest is one man's journey to do his job to the best of his ability while entrenched in his own grief.

Shane and the Sergeant meet under the most unusual of circumstances, but we feel it's fated from the beginning of the story. This relationship is very strong and the most interesting one in the story. The serial killer was a lot less interesting by comparison. Although the author throws a few twists and turns in the story in an attempt to jolt us with the unexpected, for me, it felt a little flat.

Those who know and love San Francisco (I used to live there) will find themselves following along familiar streets and neighborhoods in the story. The description of the earthquake and its aftermath are powerfully done as well. However, I think that the weakest link in the story is that of the serial killer. There's still much to enjoy about the book, and it's a quick (if gruesome) read.