An exciting
entry into the noir canon, Joe Flanagan's Lesser Evils expertly
reimagines 1957 Cape Cod, where the mystifying murder of a local child brings
us into a world of intrigue-honed by intricate plotting, sharp dialogue, and
original characters-that culminates in a conclusion both surprising and deeply
moving.
When the first
young boy goes missing in a quiet Cape Cod town, Lieutenant Bill Warren is
pulled into a morass that promises no happy ending. As his pursuit uncovers the
unimaginable, he is led into a world of gambling, drug peddling, corruption,
and secret psychiatric experiments. Now he must fight to maintain control of an
investigation that more and more people-from the state police to the district
attorney to a tenacious Boston reporter-have become seriously interested in. As
facts become murkier and the threat rises, Warren struggles to survive in a
world where the police can be just as corrupt as the criminals they chase, and
where a murder inquiry will ultimately lead to his front door. Years later, the
locals will still be debating whether the case's resolution was factual or
miraculous.
Flanagan's
debut novel is a modern take on classic noir crime fiction. Readers will be
eager for his next offering.
Lesser
Evils (Noir Crime)
By
Joe Flanagan
Europa
Editions
ISBN
#978-1609453107
Price
$18.00
416
Pages
Rating
4-Stars
“Convoluted And
Distracting From Main Plot.”
Lieutenant Bill Warren
is trying to care for his retarded son when a big case breaks in Barnstable,
Massachusetts. Children are being molested and killed, and Warren wants to find
the killer. Unfortunately, the DA has turned the case over to Captain Dale
Stasiak, commanding officer of Troop D, of the state police. There are a lot of
other things happening in this sleepy little village. Mob controlled gambling,
drugs, police corruption, and secret medical experiments.
It doesn’t take a
genius to pick out the child molester from the very first, and the other
problems just distract from the case of the child killer. I felt there was
really too much going on to make this a topnotch crime story. Nor did I really
like any of the people in the story, including the main character, Bill Warren.
Everything was easy to figure out, the reader just needs to read to the end to
see that their suspicions are confirmed. The book will keep you occupied for
many hours, and is worth reading, just don’t expect it to test your analytical
mind.
Tom
Johnson
Detective
Mystery Stories
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