Joe has moved back to his hometown of Berlin, CT after decades of living in San Francisco, with a slew of successful crime novels under his belt, as well as a difficult divorce. He's been offered a teaching job at the local college and returns to the town without much fanfare, but word gets around in a small town. Soon, he's hearing from his Uncle Iver, his mother's brother who was like a father to him, as well as old friends Jim Case and Ron Lamontagne, although sorely missing are his own mother, and also friend, Joe Lotko, both of whom died of cancer while he was on the West Coast.
As he settles into his newly rented place and reconnects with old friends and family, Joe decides to write a book about the kidnapping of Ava and Annabelle Rodgers, who disappeared from the local mall in 1985, never to be seen or heard from again. He briefly dated Ava when he was 15 and she and her sister's disappearance definitely played a part in shaping his psyche, so perhaps writing about it will be cathartic. His friends, Jim and Ron, think it's unwise to bring up such bad memories for the town, but he just can't shake the need to write this book. The desire is compounded when a second pair of teen girls go missing in the neighboring town of Avon, the circumstances eerily similar to the ones in 1985. Could the perpetrator be at it again or is it a copycat? After all, the Rodgers twins were never found, and neither was their kidnapper.
As Joe tries to get his groove back in Berlin, strange coincidences start happening. He gets pulled over for drunk driving by an old high school classmate, Officer Wayne Wright, then within days, his teaching job mysteriously vaporizes when they hire from within. Joe tries to track down former neighbor Danny McPhee, a creeper 5 years older than he was who spent a lot of time doing lawn work and gaping at the bikini-clad Rodgers twins while they were swimming with Joe and the rest of his pals. Surely this guy, an ex-con with a similar conviction to boot, is to blame, right? Then somebody breaks into his rental place and trashes his computer. It sure does seem like someone in this town doesn't want this book to be written.
Before the thrilling ending, Joe will wind up in the hospital multiple times, a victim of assault, strange and telling evidence will pop up in the most interesting of places, and Joe will find himself suspecting the worst of those he has known and loved all of these years. He'll also come face to face with a truth he could never have imagined.
I thoroughly enjoyed Say My Name, but it wasn't long before I realized it wasn't a factual accounting, but that didn't dampen my interest in the story. It's an interesting nail-biter and makes me realize I now want to read some of Joe Clifford's thrillers that take place in bleak and wintery settings. This book would be a great beach read.
