Finished Th 2/28/13
Another superb Moe Prager Mystery that grabs hold on page one, and never lets up until the final page. Moe is asked by an ex-wife to find out who stabbed and killed her sister. It's a labyrinth of a plot that is chock full of red herrings and blind alleys, but leads to a stunning (an logical) conclusion.
Reed Farrel Coleman's writing style is poignant and colorful, yet he is able to set-up and propel a fast paced and compelling plot. Not only is the story about a horrific crime which leads to an even more horrendous series of cover-ups, but Moe Prager is suffering from stomach cancer, and Coleman is able to masterfully convey the dark emotions of both the story and the plight of his lead character.
I would highly recommend any and all of the books in this admirable mystery series.
My notes-
Carmella asks Moe to find out how and why her sister, Alta was killed. She was stabbed in an alley. This woman was infamous as the NYC EMT would refused to treat a man who was dying. This made various police and fire agencies prime suspects in her murder. One Puerto Rican ex-fireman actually put out a hit on the woman, but his hit-man wouldn't do the job. This older man is later killed saving a child from being run down in the street. This man is revealed to be in love with a beautiful and popular transvestite, although he is violently anti-gay. He's a New York hero, with a Big Secret.
The reason the woman and her partner did not treat the man is that he was part of a blackmail operation that was drugging young women, and then forcing them to engage in sex orgies on film. These videos would be released on the Internet if the women wouldn't pay up.
The man who died was a sexual criminal who was jailed for sexually assaulting and underage woman. This woman, Eserald Marie Sutanto, was in love with the man, and visited him while he was in prison. Moe interviews this girl in connection to his murder investigation, but doesn't realize how tied into the action she really is until almost the end of the novel. In fact, he thinks she is the real murderer, and sets her up for the charge. This girl commits suicide.
The actual reason for the stabbing is that Alta accidentally witnessed a heroin delivery at the loading dock of a restaurant of one of Moe's friends. This guy had been giving information and helping Moe. The guy used to be a cop with Moe in Coney Island. He is Greek and his family ran a series of restaurants in the New York area, and this man's brother got into drugs and gamboling and owned lots of money to Eastern European crime lords. They got control of the restaurants, and used them to distribute heroin from Afghanistan.
Moe is assisted by a Peurto Rican cop, Detective Fuqua, who is very determined to get ahead in the police force at any price, and this reminds Moe of his dead partner.
All throughout the novel Moe is fighting gastric cancer, and wants to put off chemo therapy until his daughter Sarah's wedding which is supposed to happen in a couple of weeks. Pam is his wife and she is suspicious of the whole case since it involves Carmella, one of Moe's ex-wives.
Moral Of The Story (paraphrased the last line of the book)
"humans inflict pain on one another as easily as we breath, and people can change, but they cannot change their essential natures. We were hurt machines and whether we evolved into them of God made us that way seems beside the point".
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