Helpful Score: 2
I picked this book up in the shelf of books left behind by visitors to a resort in Hawaii. You couldn't have had a greater contrast! The book is set in NYC and deals with seamy and obscene acts. The "hero" is the detective that criminals go to when they need their problems investigated. This is the hardest-boiled of hard boiled detectives and he's faced with child exploitation on lots of levels. I found the writing compelling and the book unforgettable if you have the stomach for it.
Streetwise and otherwise smart ex-con Burke narrates this second journey ( Flood ) through New York's garish underworld. The tough, unlicensed private investigator and his memorable cohorts work outside the law, but physically hurt only the true scum: street and subway punks, dope dealers and child abusers. With the help of Max the Silent (deaf-mute Chinese muscle), Michelle (fabulous-looking pre-transsexual hooker), Mole (thick-glassed demolition genius), Immaculata (sympathetic Vietnamese psychotherapist), and Pansy (malevolent Italian guard dog), Burke searches for a kiddie porn picture that will salvage the sanity of a cherubic six-year-old boy. This story fairly crackles with intensity, and the TV/p.i.-type narrator fuels the excitement with wry asides, gangster-wary movements, and cautious self-assurances. Great reading.
