More Feed Your Head

My recent BOOK BEAT column for Pomp and Circumstantial Evidence, the magazine of the Magna Cum Murder Mystery Conference:

SLIPPING INTO DARKNESS by Peter Blauner
Crackling police yarn features an aging cop who may or may not have made a critical error on a pre-DNA-era murder case, now trying to make it right when the alleged murderer gets released on a technicality. A fresh killing, in the style of the previous murder, complicates matters further. Street-smart storytelling and an engaging plot keeps the storytelling galloping along, holding together from opening page to endflap.

DRAMA CITY by George Pelecanos
Hard-nosed prose highlights this gray-shaded tale of a recently released prisoner, and a troubled parole officer, both trying to stay on the right side of the fence in the face of brutal urban warfare in the streets of Washington, D.C. At the apex of the triangle is a pair of rival drug-dealers whose turf war spills into both the leader characters’ lives. Pelecanos has a teeth-clenching, staccato style, but well-drawn characters give his writing a pleasing fullness.

PRIVILEGED CONVERSATION by Evan Hunter
Evan Hunter is perhaps better known by his psuedonym Ed McBain, the author of the 87th Precinct novels, a long-running series of well-received police procedurals with a large ensemble cast. Hunter typically reserves his given name for more serious works, including this interesting erotically-charged thriller. A New York psychiatrist intervenes in a mugging and ends up caught up in a all-consuming affair with a dancer. The introduction of a stalker increases the stakes, and although the ultimate payout is a bit disappointing the novel remains an interesting character study.

GUN, WITH OCCASIONAL MUSIC by Jonathan Lethem
Genuinely offbeat near-future noir has our tarnished hero, holding onto his ideals in a world rampant with genetically-altered animals and the insidious effects of a state-sponsored drug called Make, trying to solve a brutal murder and keep one step ahead of crooked cops trying to put him into cryogenic sleep. A sardonic mix of THE MALTESE FALCON and BLADE RUNNER with a good grasp of both genres.