St. Petersburg Times
By Kiki Olson
My current favorite California detective, Orson Cheever, is assigned to investigate the murder of San Diego art gallery owner/social activist Bonnie Gill. Is Holly Troy an artist with multiple personalities connected to Greek mythology, the killer or the next victim? With the intellectual and emotional assistance of Holly’s therapist, Rachel Stern, Cheever embarks on a deliriously complex trail that combines ancient myths with California New Age enlightenment and the eternal problems of dysfunctional families. Russell allows his exquisitely flawed characters to follow a vertiginous plot to its logical conclusion. Readers who enjoy intelligent repartee at the scene of the crime will find Multiple Wounds enlightening as well as entertaining.
Los Angeles Times
By Dick Lochte
Those familiar with Alan Russell’s comic thrillers about hotel sleuth Am Caulfield may be a bit surprised to learn that his newest novel Multiple Wounds is no laughing matter. It is a fairly grim three-character study, the personnel slack being taken up by one of the characters, a disturbed young woman named Helen Troy, who is convinced she’s inhabited by a forum variety of Greek deities. The tale alternates primarily between her addled point of view and that of a depressed but dogged San Diego cop, Orson Cheever, who is investigating the brutal murder of the gallery owner who displayed Helen’s work. Later in the novel, when Cheever and Helen’s therapist, Rachel Stern, find themselves falling in love, Russell allows us to observe the psychologist’s thought processes, too, particularly the professional and personal turmoil prompted by their relationship.
As you might imagine, this is not your ordinary police procedural. The element of detection – the sifting through clues, the identification and arrest of the gallery owner’s killer – is pushed to the background while Cheever focuses on his main concern, the mystery of Helen’s mental state and his own confusing emotions regarding her and her therapist. Those expecting a John Sandford-like cat-and-mouse thrill-ride will probably be disappointed. Others should be impressed by Russell’s ambitious attempt to push the boundaries of the crime novel.
Kirkus Reviews
The leading witnesses (or are they the leading suspects) to gallery owner Bonnie Gill’s murder are the weirdest bunch that veteran San Diego cop Orson Cheever has ever interviewed – and they are all living inside the self of Bonnie’s client, sculptor Holly Troy. Holly, christened Helen Troy by her classicist father, has disassociative identity disorder, and Cheever has his hands full just juggling her multiple personalities: passive Holly, childlike Caitlin, angry male Cronos, sexy Eris, melancholy Eurydice, painfully empathic Hygeia, vengeful Nemesis, the wildly energetic Maenads, the intuitive Medea, and Pandora, the gatekeeper and guide to all the others. In one virtuouso scene, Cheever takes Holly out to lunch and watches as she orders, in rapid succession, an albacore melt, a rare steak, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, lamb salad, chicken fajitas, and an artichoke heart pizza. Clearly Holly has armored herself with this impressive roster of alters in response to a harrowing trauma, and it’s no criticism of Russell to say that just as the other suspects, with only one personality apiece, can’t hope to complete with Holly’s brilliantly evoked Greek chorus, her troubled past steals the limelight from Bonnie’s present day murder.
A tour de force less reminiscent of Russell’s recent pair of farces about mayhem at the Hotel California than of his dark debut novel, NO SIGN OF MURDER.
Entertaining. . . Action moving . . . A conclusion that brings all the pieces of the puzzle together. Russell makes the most of the imaginative setup.” - Chicago Tribune
“An extremely rewarding voyage. Russell has produced his most ambitious and imaginative novel to date, a skillful mix of thrills both intellectual and visceral.”
- San Diego Union-Tribune
“A knock-your-socks-off psychological thriller. While I could call it a tour de force, I will simply classify it as a damn fine novel.” - Mystery News
“Russell has written an absorbing story that successfully combines the mundane with the otherworldly and delivers intriguing characters as well as fascinating glimpses into the human mind. A top notch choice.”
- Booklist
“This multi-layered plot is as tightly coiled as a spring-loaded booby-trap. The plot builds and stretches as taut as an acrobat’s high-wire. Russell’s characterizations are superb. I highly recommend MULTIPLE WOUNDS. It is an extraordinary suspense thriller by an author who has the gift of revealing the masks people wear to hide from each other and from themselves.” - Tulsa World
“This is his best book by far. I liked the story, and the people it happened to, a lot. They seemed real to me, and I cared what became of them, and I don’t have much higher praise to offer. Russell does a fine job of depicting a fascinating mental disorder.” - Mostly Murder
“An incredible novel of suspense unfolds, populated by classic Greek characters and real life people. This is a powerful story that forges new ground.” - Meritorious Mysteries
“ . . . downright brilliant. Russell’s treatment of multiple personality disorder is fascinating . . . (The book) offers up more than ample suspense as well as a denouement providing both surprise and satisfaction.”
- Deadly Pleasures
Alan Russell’s Multiple Wounds is a triumph of inventiveness and suspense. On no account should Multiple Wounds be missed.” - The Armchair Detective
“MULTIPLE WOUNDS shows a gifted writer moving to a new level of excellence. This wonderfully textured novel has nuances that will linger in the reader’s mind long past the chills of lesser suspense novels.”
- Sharyn McCrumb
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