A robust police procedural powered by a captivating detective duo.
Someone is murdering New York City’s male hustlers, and two dogged investigators are on the case.
Inspired by his days as a transit booth operator for the New York City subway system, debut author Lopez has crafted a novel about the furtive sexual dynamics between closeted gay men who are married to women and the male street prostitutes some frequent to engage their true desires. Lopez adds a twist to this unique dynamic with a coldblooded murder that opens the book with a shocking jolt. Young hustler Abe Delgado is shot in the mouth by an unknown assailant with a score to settle while they are huddled in a shadowy doorway conducting business. The killer escapes easily, but the crime, the third in a recent spate of Hispanic teenage hustler murders plaguing the city, shifts police detectives Eddie Ramos and Tommy Cucitti into high gear. The combination of their good-natured camaraderie and solid police work creates a unique and compelling pairing as they flush out suspects like a sketchy construction foreman who is bartering his site to the area’s hustlers for cash payouts. When more murder victims turn up, the pressure is on from the city government to apprehend the killer quickly, as it’s a reelection year for the mayor. A departmental shake-up complicates the “Chickenhawk” case further before bribery, interfamilial melodrama, and tense standoffs bring about a thrilling, if somewhat abrupt, conclusion. The story is distinctive for its mild dips into urban racial strife. Lopez also presents a believable portrait of a police detective’s extreme case of career burnout causing riffs with family and field partners. In addition, the author spotlights the very real circumstances of men married to women who conduct clandestine sexual relations with male prostitutes. These husbands physically and emotionally endanger their marriages in the process. Another of the novel’s highlights is its descriptive accuracy: An annoyed lieutenant looks at Ramos “as if he’d sprouted wings from his head,” and an individual’s eye wrinkles “were like the rings on a tree stump—they told on you.” While the writing is rickety in spots and a stronger edit would have tightened the suspense, the tale delivers tense scenes, raw dialogue, and the authentic, gritty urban life that thriller fans will devour.
A robust police procedural powered by a captivating detective duo.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-63393-006-3
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Koehler Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A meager mystery, but it’s always worthwhile catching up on the interactions between Nora and her friends.
A bookstore owner and her pals have more than one mystery to solve.
Nora Pennington is the owner of Miracle Books in Miracle Springs, North Carolina, where she's surrounded by a group of good friends who call themselves the Secret, Book, and Scone Society: Hester Winthrop, a baker; Estella Sadler, a salon owner; and June Dixon, a hotel guest manager. And ever since a fire at her home, Nora’s been living with her partner, Sheriff Grant McCabe. Now she’s thrilled to be hosting her first-ever author evening at Miracle Books. Cozy mystery author Allie Kennedy is promoting her new book, The Dry Bar Murders, and Nora and her staff and friends have their hands full getting ready for that event as well as an upcoming Halloween Fun and Fright Night, which will include activities for kids as well as a demonstration by psychic medium Lara Luz. McCabe, for his part, is trying to catch someone dumping hazardous waste all over town. Nora’s biggest disagreement with McCabe is over his deputy, K9 handler Paula Hollowell, who goes out of her way to be nasty to Nora and her friends. The day of the Halloween event, Lara arrives with her boyfriend, Enzo Russo, and a bad cold. Nora is surprised when Hollowell arrives and even more so when Allie Kennedy shows up, glaring at Hollowell. The psychic readings start well enough, but suddenly Lara turns pale, gasps for air, and dies despite Hollowell’s CPR attempts. A frantic Enzo shoves Nora, giving her a concussion. Lara evidently died from a bad reaction to Narcan—it turns out she had a heart condition that didn't interact well with the drug—and the investigation shows that she’d angered many people by accepting valuable pieces of jewelry that had belonged to the dead, which Enzo sold in his pawn shop.
A meager mystery, but it’s always worthwhile catching up on the interactions between Nora and her friends.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781496743824
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Kensington
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A smart and engaging literary thriller that bears down too hard on its themes.
At the home of an eccentric millionaire, a woman discovers out-of-the-ordinary events.
When her husband is invited to finish writing his book at the island home of a reclusive millionaire, Anna is relieved: If he sells it, they’ll be able to keep their Bronx apartment and she won’t have to go back to work at the laundry. It’s 1918, and Charles Fort—based on a real-life figure—is hard at work on a book about unexplained phenomena, such as objects falling from a clear sky: frogs, for example, or even bits of flesh, or blood. If Anna has doubts about the legitimacy of his research, she keeps them to herself. In any case, when the millionaire Claude Arkel offers the couple a place to stay for the winter, they eagerly accept. Almost immediately, though, things seem to be off. Arkel runs a school for wayward girls, and three students are missing. Meanwhile, there’s no sign of Arkel himself, and with the Spanish flu raging in the outside world, the Forts are stuck in quarantine. Bakis’ latest novel has the pacing and suspense of a smart literary thriller: It’s almost impossible to put down once you’ve started it. But Bakis can be heavy-handed in her treatment of the themes that undergird her story—in this case, women who support ambitious men. That’s not to say Bakis’ case doesn’t hold water, but she strikes the same note again and again in a way that is more repetitive than satisfying. So, for example, when the Forts first arrive on Arkel’s island, and Charles observes that the grand house is “modeled on the Château de Chambord in the Val de Loire” and Anna responds, “I know, I’m the one who showed you the article,” the mansplaining moment isn’t nearly as funny as it was apparently intended to be; it's just frustrating, in a teeth-grinding way.
A smart and engaging literary thriller that bears down too hard on its themes.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9781324093534
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Liveright/Norton
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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