GRANITE HARBOR is unputdownable. That makes it a five-star book.

Mostly, GRANITE HARBOR is about Alex, an English writer of two books who hasn't been able to come up with a third. Now he's a small-town detective in Maine. With little training and no experience with tough cases, he is now up against a serial killer of young people, his daughter's friends.

Some of the chapters are about an unnamed boy. These chapters are flashbacks. The boy grew up in unfortunate circumstances, was befriended by a mentally sick man, and absorbed his sick teachings. The boy grew into a man who seemed sweet and thought he was sweet.

The reader figures it out pretty much as Alex figures it out. That's what makes GRANITE HARBOR unputdownable.

But warning: Peter Nichols' detailed description of the treatment of a coyote may be hard for some people to stomach. It sure was for me.

And a criticism: it is too easy for a writer to solve even a small part of a case by adding a clairvoyant character to the story. A writer as talented as Nichols should have been able to come up with something better. It just seems lazy.

Even so, Nichols deserves applause for his unputdownable story.