Lesser Evils

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