That Maureen has witnessed something Sebastian would probably not want known creates a dilemma. She immediately back pedals, saying she will never breathe a word about the scene she has just witnessed, but both men remain unconvinced. Dennis, whom Maureen knows quite well wants to speak with her later, but Sebastian says nothing. Maureen has a brief conversation with Dennis before she leaves during which she basically tells him she didn’t want to see anything and saw nothing. Dennis is relieved but wants to talk to her more at a later date.

Unfortunately for Maureen, that later date will never occur. Dennis’s body is found in many pieces on the railroad track not too far from their place of employment. From what Maureen has been able to learn about Frank Sebastian, she wishes she could move to another universe. He is one very scary man. The only person she feels she can turn to is John, the manager at the Cargo, the bar at which she had previously worked.

Crying on John’s shoulder is not without its drawbacks. John’s girlfriend, Molly is both protective and possessive of her man. Since Maureen and John live in the same apartment building, John offers Maureen the use of his living room couch when she returns to find her apartment torn up… not really vandalized. The work is a statement from Sebastian . John suggest, nay, demands, that Maureen contact Nat Waters, a cop that John knows and trusts. Maureen reluctantly does and at times regrets it. She is not as confident of Waters good cop persona as John is.

The Devil She Knows is not so much a mystery as a character study. It is obvious who is responsible for Dennis’s death though there is a great deal of uncertainty about whether the perpetrator will suffer the consequences of his action. The major characters in the novel, Maureen, Waters, John, Molly, and Maureen’s mother, Amber come alive under the skillful hand of Bill Loehfelm. All of the characters are a product of their own innate character and how it reacts in a situation. The novel is more than a good mystery tale. It has all the elements of a mainstream novel. Maureen had a nightlight in her room as a child given to her by her father. That item symbolizes more than just safety in a dark room and the author challenges the reader to discover what that is.

The descriptions of each character are made more lifelike because they are often compared to animals. Waters for example reminds Maureen of a wild bear in his power and grace. His strength is compared to inanimate objects… arms and legs like thick water pipes, hands like dinner plates. Because she perceives herself to be small and insubstantial, Waters grows more huge by comparison.

Although Staten Island is in essence part of New York City, the location has the feel of a small town. Everyone is related to everyone else, if not genetically than by dint of the fact that their life histories are intertwined. This fact is an important one in the story that plays out on the pages of The Devil She Knows. Although Maureen does not recognize Sebastian when he arrives at the Narrows one evening, she later discovers that his wife taught Maureen in religious classes when she was a youngster. Maureen’s mother also knows Sebastian and his wife though the depth of their relationship is left to the reader’s imagination.

There is much to be gleaned from the pages of this tome. The mystery story is there, of course, but one would be remiss if that is all that was learned from the novel. The author is clearly a master of the English language and uses that knowledge to his advantage. As Maureen comments when Waters fails to notice her pun, Humor wasn’t the first thing you noticed about the man… or the second…or the third.

--Andy Plonka