Paper Targets: Art Can Be Murder by Steve S. Saroff

‘Memories are the most difficult codes to break.’

Enzi is a gifted coder, a dyslexic loner who finds himself caught in two separate awkward situations which merge into one. First, there is Kaori, an artist he barely knows but bails out of jail, and then there’s Tsai a man for whom he has done some coding.

Kaori murders her (ex) boyfriend and his new girlfriend. The pictures she draws show that. But Kaori draws other pictures as well, including one of Enzi accepting a suitcase from Tsai. And when Enzi tries to withdraw from an arrangement he has with Tsai, others are killed to show him the error of his ways. How can Enzi escape?

Enzi finds an ingenious and totally appropriate solution to his problems. And the reader accompanies him on his journey through the present, back into the past and then (hopefully) on the brink of a better future. I came to like Enzi, but my absolute favourite character is Pascal Ameto, the bondsman. A fella needs to know that.

‘Crazy is crazy, but lonely is lonely. I do not know which is the saddest.’

Congratulations, Mr Saroff, on your accomplished and intriguing debut novel. I enjoyed reading it.

Note: My thanks to the author who provided me with an electronic copy of this novel for review purposes.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith