Tommy D, a petty thief Gus had arrested a few times, wanted Gus to find out who brutally murdered his son. He says he wants Gus to help him because the working Suffolk County police officers are ignoring the case, and Gus is the only honest cop he knows. Gus flies off the handle because he thinks the real reason Tommy D came to him is that Gus’s son is dead, too, and his grief would compel him to help. When he goes to Tommy D’s home to apologize, Gus gets caught up in the deadly shoot out.
It’s after that he decides he should try to figure out who killed TJ, Tommy’s son. He finds it strange that, not only are the police ignoring the case, they’re warning him to stay away from it.
Of course that’s a red flag. As he digs deeper, and gets closer to the truth, he also puts himself in more danger.
And all of this is going on while Gus is dealing with the unexpected death of his son from a never-diagnosed medical condition, the break-up of his marriage, his daughter’s acting out over her brother’s death, and the possibility that he may want to start a relationship with a new woman.
The book also has some secondary characters that are central to the story: Slava, Gus’s hilarious sidekick; Father Bill, the former priest who still dispenses advice, spiritual and other; and Smudgie, who is hard to describe, other than to say he’s a kind of likable oddball.
I spoke with Mr. Coleman this morning and he told me Slava, Father Bill and Smudgie will all be back in the next installment of the series. Hooray!
If this gives you any idea how much I loved this book: It's 368 pages and I read it in one sitting. You can hear my interview with Reed Farrel Coleman here: WESB.com/on-demand and scroll to "LiveLine 01-26-16 Bestselling Author Reed Farrel Coleman on Where It Hurts."
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