For whatever reason, I just didn't care that much for
Koryta's debut, _Tonight I Said Goodbye_. The characters
didn't seem real, the plot was sort of gimmicky... It didn't
help that I read it right on the heels of Andrew Klavan's
second Weiss/Bishop novel, _Shotgun Alley_ (there's a third,
_Damnation Street_, on the horizon). For whatever reason, I
just didn't like it.
That said, Koryta's follow-up, _Sorrow's Anthem_, is a great
book. Everything I didn't like about that first book has been
fixed. The characters seem real, the story flows naturally,
the depiction of Cleveland and its close-knit neighborhoods
is as good as anything this side of Les Roberts' Milan
Jacovich series.
This time around, Lincoln is drawn into a mystery that ties
into his past, as he witnesses the unfortunate death of a
childhood friend, Ed Gradduk, apparently run over
accidentally by a police car while trying to escape arrest.
Ed was the prime suspect in a murder/arson case and he was
just starting to open up to Lincoln when the cops arrived to
take him in. Lincoln had lost touch with Ed many years before
when, as a rookie policeman, he'd been responsible for Ed's
arrest and imprisonment on drug charges, all the while hoping
Ed would save himself and roll over on the real culprit. When
that didn't happen, the two best friends became estranged and
their tight-knit neighborhood community turned its back on
Lincoln and his father.
Unable to clearly spell out his reasons for doing so, Lincoln
finds himself investigating his friend's death, which seems
to be related to a string of arsons, some recent and some
dating back 20 years. There may also be a link to Cleveland's
mafia and, perhaps, some police corruption involved.
A very impressive book and now I'm looking forward to
Koryta's next. It's hard to believe he's as young (mid-20s)
as he is.
Craig Larson Plymouth, MN
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 10 Apr 2006 EDT