After a bit of a reader’s slump, I’ve finished “The Detective” by Matthew Reilly. It was his most recent publication that my partner had bought for me as I had read a number of his other books, ranging from his series involving main characters Jack “Huntsman” West Jr and Shane “Scarecrow” Schofield, and his stand alone books such as “The Great China Zoo”, “The Contest” and “The Tournament”.

The thing that drew me to Matthew Reilly’s books were how he incorporated aspects of modern and ancient history as well as cultural stories and legends into modern day storylines (with the exception of books such as “The Tournament” and “Mr Einstein’s Secretary” – which I am yet to read), some bordering on the absolute mythic and science fiction fantasy, and yet still so captivating. He is an author with an amazing skill in spinning a modern day adventure and mystery, usually with some kind of government conspiracy involved, with insanely action packed scenes that have some kind of link to different aspects of history. “The Detective” is no exception, although it’s a bit of a different storyline than what I would usually expect from Matthew Reilly.

As always, spoilers ahead, continue at your own risk!

The main protagonist of “The Detective” is the detective himself, Sam Speedman. A short, scrawny white guy with thick glasses and strong case of Autism Spectrum Disorder Level 1/2. Usually, I cringe a little when an author tries to portray a neurodivergent character, having ASD run in my family and worked with students with varying degrees of ASD, I usually find authors missing the mark. That being said, Matthew Reilly absolutely hit the nail on the head with Sam Speedman, from his OCD, his misunderstanding of social interactions and yet still having a strong sense of empathy despite not being able to display his own emotions in way that other people deem normal. I absolutely loved reading Sam as a character, and could definitely relate him to people I know with high-functioning ASD.

Sam is a Private Detective with different degrees in law and criminal psychology, which he used to try to get into the FBI but failed their personality test due to his ASD (which in reality is so common) so he instead got his license to become a Private Detective and started his own business, quite successfully. Despite having difficulties socially, people love his loyalty, devotion and need to achieve justice for those who can’t get it through the regular authorities. So, he has a group of waitresses at hooters who wait on him hand and foot, and plenty of connections through his business who are always more than willing to help him out when he asks. Which is what lands him in the biggest problem of the book, his missing persons case LaToya Marten. Having failed to solve the case seven years previously, Sam receives a notification for a data search he had set up years earlier (through his highly illegal but hand hacking skills that he had taught himself through his wide range of reading), that indicated that LaToya was in fact still alive. He dives back into the case, reawakening the other patterns and anomalies that he had uncovered at the start of the case: four African American female prostitutes missing every twenty-five years or so, and the missing or dead detectives who were assigned their cases.

Very quickly, Sam almost becomes one of those missing or dead detectives alongside our secondary protagonist FBI Agent Audrey Mills. They uncover a conspiracy that spans across 150 years, linking the modern day mystery to historical events in true Matthew Reilly style. There’s death, torture, cover ups, slavery, kidnapping, if I listed any more details I would give away the story!

The story hooked me so much I started and finished the book in around four to five hours. I loved Sam as a neurodivergent character and as a detective, I grew to like Audrey but admittedly I loved Sam’s loyal friends more. I especially loved seeing Sam’s development socially and romantically, this mirrors the struggles that many neurodivergent people experience everyday, especially those who are high-functioning. Anyone looking for a mystery with a fair bit of action, I strongly recommend “The Detective” by Matthew Reilly.