Finished Su 11/20/11
Dr. Michael Devlin seems to have it all. He is married to Alice, a successful social work manager, father of a bright high-school senior, Michelle, and they all live compatibly in an affluent northern suburb of Baltimore. His psychiatric practice is thriving, and he is also an accomplished instructor of Tae Kwon Do. However, his life begins to unravel when he decides to open a new branch of the martial arts school in an inner-city Baltimore neighborhood near The Edgar Allen Poe Home.
The novel is presented mostly from Devlin's point of view, but several of the chapters are told by his Black Tae Kwon Do students, and in the vernacular of the ghetto. The Afro-American dialog did not seem very authentic or necessary. The novel seemed to hinge on Devlin's psychological troubles, and the addition of other points of view did nothing to clarify this conflict.
I don't think that Devlin's motives are effectively represented, and the results of his actions are disastrous. I suppose you could infer that initially he was acting to ameliorate the negative effects of gang violence, but his intrusion into the community only aggravates the situation, and with dire consequences to him and his family.
Overall, the book is fast-paced and moving, yet somewhat muddled because it's just too hard to believe that an upper-class psychologist would act in such an odd manner. His kidnapping/saving? of a black infant, and the savage fist-fight with a Camaro are two most perplexing examples of his strange behavior.
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