The Empty Kayak by Jodé Millman
What's It About?
For Detective Ebony Jones, crime is always personal. But this time, it strikes too close to home.The Empty Kayak (Level Best Books) by Jodé Millman follows the relentless investigation of a missing person case on the Hudson River that exposes closely guarded secrets and social media malice, and threatens to leave a young girl without a father.
Detective Ebony Jones is called to the scene of a lost kayaker and discovers she has a close connection with the missing person and his family. The only witness to this accident is the man’s distraught fiancée, an aspiring social media diva who is intent on sharing the raw emotion of her loss with her growing number of followers.
After long, cold hours of searching along the river, hope of finding the man alive wanes, but a voice in the back of the lead detective’s head grows louder, insisting that this is more than just a tragic accident. Fans of modern suspense novels such as Mystic River and Gone Girl will appreciate the clever intricacies of this storyline and how the lives of each character are thoughtfully intertwined.
Stands Well on its Own
Author Jodé Millman brings us the anticipated third installment of the Queen City Crimes series. Her debut novel, The Midnight Call, won the 2020 American Fiction Award for Legal Thriller, a Bronze IPPY Award for Suspense, and many additional accolades. The second volume in this series, Hooker Avenue, was internationally recognized as First Place Winner of the CIBA Clue Book Awards for Suspense/Thriller Category.
While The Empty Kayak follows and builds on the characters introduced in the previous novels, it is also a story that stands well on its own. One does not have to read the first two books before diving into The Empty Kayak; but after reading this chapter, it’s very likely that you’ll want to read the complete series, as was the experience of this reviewer.
Mysterious Disappearance
Kyle Emory embarks on a paddling excursion on the Hudson River with his fiancée, Olivia Vargas, unaware of the tragedy that awaits him. A sudden storm creates massive waves and a swift current, pulling the two apart. Olivia manages to reach shore, but Kyle is lost. When Detective Ebony Jones arrives on the scene and finally manages to capture the account from the distraught witness, something tells her that there’s more to this case than meets the eye.
For Ebony, the connection to the potential victim is personal. She recognizes Kyle’s one-year-old daughter, Lily, as the only child of her best friend, Jessie Martin. Ebony drives the girl to her mother before returning to investigate the event further, and the weight of this very personal case begins to sink in.
Ebony would protect Lily with her life, if necessary, but she couldn’t protect her from the pain of growing up without her father. Nobody could.
As the search for Kyle moves toward a sad conclusion, Jessie Martin laments how drastically different life will be without Lily’s father. To Jessie’s dismay, she discovers that half of Kyle’s hefty life insurance policy is willed to his mysterious fiancée Olivia, but the signatures on the new forms … don’t look quite right. As Ebony and Jessie each search for justice in their own way, they soon uncover a network of lies and betrayal that permeate social media and online gambling, and involve several nefarious characters.
A Story That Sucks the Reader In
The Empty Kayak is also notable for careful attention to detail in setting as well as the characters themselves, which seem to come alive in this story. The waterfront park of Kaal Rock in which the initial tragedy unfolds is rendered with vivid description, including important aspects of the river itself. The boulders, currents, swirls and eddies that presumably sucked this young kayaker to a watery grave are painted in the imagination of the reader with thoughtfully crafted sentences.
The shallow water is a haven, while the dark blue depths of the main channel are imposing and ominous. One can almost feel the gentle breeze coming off the water as the investigation unfolds. As the story moves from the river to the City of Poughkeepsie and beyond, the integrity of setting is maintained throughout. This attention to detail allows for an immersive reading experience as the action unfolds.
A similar thoughtfulness is present in the development and description of each of the characters in this tale. While Detective Ebony Jones and dedicated defense attorney Jessie Martin take center stage in this book, the supporting cast is attributed an impressive amount of attention as well. Partners, love interests, coworkers, children and even the villains of this story are generated with a thoughtfulness and complexity not normally present for secondary characters.
Beyond creating a story that sucks the reader in, this aptitude in Millman’s description also serves to keep the reader guessing as to who the actual culprit in this story might be. In other mystery novels, the reader can often deduce who is behind the nefarious plot simply by the amount of description given on that specific character. In The Empty Kayak, we are kept in suspense much longer, simply by the wonderful level of fidelity and color given to the entire cast.
The Empty Kayak boasts emotional complexity and well-developed characters that will have readers trying to piece together this puzzle along with the protagonists. Millman maintains the mystery of the lost kayaker in a masterful way, leaving a few additional twists and turns to discover in the last few chapters of the book. Evenly paced and wonderfully written, the realism of The Empty Kayak is a reading experience of unique quality that keeps readers invested in the outcome up to the very last page.
About Jodé Millman:
Jodé Millman is a lifelong resident of Poughkeepsie, New York, which serves as the setting for her legal suspense novels. In her writing, she draws upon her experiences as an attorney to capture the tensions that arise when a small community is rocked by tragedy. Author of the best-selling Seats: New York theatre guidebook, Millman’s 2019 debut thriller novel, The Midnight Call, was short-listed for a Clue Award and received the First Place Blue Ribbon as “Best Police Procedural” by Chantireviews.com. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters In Crime and Romance Writers of America. Millman received her BA and JD from Syracuse University, studied at NYU Law School and obtained her MA in English Literature from Eastern Michigan University. She has taught at Detroit Mercy Law School and Marist College.
