Product Description

There are seven of them. Children--innocents--whose long-buried remains are uncovered by a flash-flood. No one knows who could have committed such a crime. Clues are scarce, and with the media turning the story into a law enforcement nightmare, time is short. Only Wil Hardesty, a private eye who has more in common with the case than anyone knows, is willing to push hard enough--and dig deep enough--to find the cruelest of killers. The killer of The Innocents...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1262577 in Books
• Published on: 1997-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1 pages

Amazon.com Review
Author Richard Barre kicked off his Wil Hardesty series with this smart, psychologically nuanced first novel, which garnered a 1996 Shamus Award. As The Innocents opens, a flash flood in the California desert has uncovered the dessicated remains of seven children. The only clue to their identity: a worn St. Christopher medal inscribed "Vaya Con Dios, Benito. Papa, 1967."

Years before, as an impoverished Mexican peasant, Ignacio Reyes, sold his youngest son to a border runner. He used the money to bring his family over into the United States and open the first of his chain of successful restaurants, but he's been tortured with guilt ever since. Meanwhile, aging surfer, Vietnam vet, and private detective Wil Hardesty is wrestling with his own demons after his son's accidental drowning four years earlier and his own subsequent breakdown.

When Reyes contacts Wil, asking him to investigate the deaths of those seven children, Hardesty unearths far more than just bones--including artifacts from a bloodthirsty Santeria cult. The plot is gripping, the dialogue sharp, and the villains very villainous indeed, but the character of Wil Hardesty is what separates this mystery from the rest of the pack. More than just another private-eye-with-a-troubled-past, Hardesty is both complicated and flawed, a very real human who brings a lifetime's worth of pain, passion, and guilt to bear on solving this crime.

From Publishers Weekly
Barre enjoys modest success with a debut that, weighted with angst, stands uncertainly on a rickety plot. Aging surfer and Vietnam vet Wil Hardesty watches his marriage and sleuthing practice falter in the wake of his young son's death. He does still get the odd case, however: in this instance, the father of a dead boy comes forward when the bones of seven children are discovered in the California desert. With the help of the father, who tells of giving his son up for adoption to a frightening man with a scar, Wil follows the trail to a powerful church, a charismatic preacher and a generous benefactor?and the man with the scar. The scenario suggests serial murder, illegal adoption, pedophilia or satanic dabblings. Managing to steer clear of the expected, Barre falters in the end with a simplistic solution. His efficient narrative style begs to be used on a better story.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
California private detective Wil Hardesty, hired by a wealthy but guilt-ridden Mexican American, searches for the alleged murderer of seven children. Hardesty trades information with the cops in charge about an elusive and ruthless coke-aholic bandito, but their suspect has an intelligence network of his own. A tense pursuit and the murder of a close friend complicate Hardesty's already strained relationship with his wife, who wants another child. The up-close and personal narrative and nicely convoluted plot of this first novel bode well for the series' next entry.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

SUPERB book. Hard to believe it's a first effort.
THIS WRITER IS GOOD. Several times I'd picked this book up and put it down because of the synopses I'd read - surfer private investigator and such. This private eye has been very poorly misrepresented. Think of Wil Hardesty as a cross between early Spenser and Harry Bosch. Yes, he does surf but I won't get into that here because reading the book will put it into perspective for you. Mr. Barre's characters are tight and very original. Had to read the last 100 pages in one sitting as I couldn't put the book down. Highest recommendations for this book.

Wil Hardesty, Determined PI, Deadly Friend.
Richard Barre's novel THE INNOCENTS, introduces PI Wil Hardesty. Wil is a Viet Nam Vet, surfer-dude, who rides a Harley. Also, as the novel opens, he is a mourning father and troubled husband, trying to hash out the terms of his marriage after he and his wife, Lisa, have lost their 11year old son in a surfing accident.

The theme of children lost to tragedy permeates this novel as Wil investigates the apparent ritualistic murder of seven children, their skeletal remains found in the desert after a rainstorm has uncovered them. A medallion found with one of the skeletons and publicized on TV alerts Wil's client that it was his son that was murdered and recently found. However, this client is reluctant to come forward due to the fact that for all intents and purposes he sold his son in exchange for safe passage across the border into the US for him and the rest of his family.

Quickly Wil and his friend Paul Rodriguez quickly zero in on a strong suspect, the deadly Zavala Bolo who bought the child years earlier and gave Wil's client passage into the US. Just as quickly Bolo and his associates realize that Wil and Paul are after them and begin counter measures to evade capture, including plans to terminate the PI and his companion. The strength of the novel is its portray of Zavala and his associates as frightening threats. A few scenes give you the enemies' POV, in order to build tension by revealing how close the villain is to doing in the heroes.

The novel is adequately written in a third person point of view, which allows Barre to reveal the minds of the villains as well as those of the PI, his associates, and several of the vitcims. Barre has attempted an ambitious first outing, however, there are several spots where the novel falls short.

First, those PI fans that are used to getting a full-blown exposure to the PI's personality and mind through first person narration may feel distanced from Wil. It's as if Barre is holding everyone at arm's length from his main character. There are a few scenes in fact where we're given the interior world of minor characters better than the mind of Wil. I comprehended the tragedy of his lost son and the problems of his marriage but never felt them.

Second, the plot hinges too heavily on coincidences: the upper hand given to the enemies by slips of the tongue by Paul and Wil at various points, clues consist of scraps of paper and candy wrappers (flimsy), and Wil lucks out when it comes to finding an expert in art/social history.

Third, several characters are snuffed out or come close to death because of their association with Wil. In other words, it seems as if you're taking your life in your hands if are related to or otherwise in a relationship with Wil Hardesty. I'll spare you the list of causalities, suffice it to say, I had my doubts any characters would survive til the next installment.

Overall if you can stand a few stretchers in believability and don't mind a bit of distance from your main investigator, THE INNOCENTS is spare, frightening thriller.

What price children?
This is the first of the Wil Hardesty series. It involves one of those 'flashback' stories of seven children murdered 20 years earlier. Hardesty, filled with debilitating remorse over the death of his own son, is, through a series of events and conversations, asked to help find their killer.

The only clue available is a religious medal given by the father of one of the boys, a few days before the boy was lost. Wil suffers through his own angst, an ability to irritate the local police, his alcoholism, and his failing marriage to come up with a chain of clues, some right, and some horribly wrong.

I have read all of Barre's Wil Hardesty novels. He is a beautiful wordsmith, and in previous reviews I have added that he reminds me of James Lee Burke and James Dickey. It's a wonderful canvas he places his characters upon. The whole series is excellent. I might add with Parker or perhaps DeMille, it is uneccessary to start at the beginning. With Barre it may be a little a little easier.