The book opens with Detective Sergeant Ash Rashid heading to the family home of a recent murder victim to deliver the bad news. He's gone through this scene dozens of times before. It never gets any easier--especially now that the victim is his 16-year-old niece, whose body was found in the guest house of one of the city's most wealthy families.
Ash, who happens to be Muslim, left homicide some time before (his back story is hinted at and would make an interesting story on its own) but is fed information about his niece's case from an old partner. When the head of the homicide division closes the case with a resolution that's a bit too neat for Ash to stomach, he opens his own off-the-books investigation revealing crooked cops, a vampire club that may be a front for a drug den, and a crazed doctor who takes a personal interest in Ash.
Culver does a good job of fleshing out Ash as more than just a cop, but as a devoted husband and father and a semi-devout, but trying, Muslim. Ash is constantly at odds trying to balance his faith with what he must sometimes so to get through his days on the job. He's a person with real flaws that don't hinder his work and home life, but do hint at a darker future.
The book moves at a fairly brisk and believable pace for the first two acts. In the third, things falter as the story begins to fold under the weight of its subplots becoming a bit convoluted and wrapping up the main action a little too neatly.
The main selling point of The Abbey is the writing. The Abbey, like the best books in the genre, isn't lyrical--the writing is crisp and efficient, making it easy to fall into and travel with the story.
The Abbey is an impressive debut novel. It's proof that, perhaps, some of the more interesting new writers are eschewing the traditional publishing model for self-distribution.
I'm looking forward to Cullver's follow-up (supposedly featuring the same characters), which is due out later this year.
Buy The Abbey for the Kindle
