Forced to retire from the D. C. police, newly minted P.I. Frank Marr is recovering from rock bottom when a friend asks for help — and now, he must revisit the dark, drug-fueled world he left behind. Ostracized by his family after a botched case that led to the death of his baby cousin, Jeffrey, Frank was on a collision course with catastrophe. Now clean and clinging hard to sobriety, he’s … clinging hard to sobriety, he’s barely eking out a living as a private investigator for a defense attorney — who also happens to be his ex-girlfriend. Frank passes the time — and tests himself — by robbing the houses of local dealers, taking their cash and flushing their drugs down the toilet. But when an old friend from his police days needs Frank’s help to prove he didn’t shoot an unarmed civilian, Frank is drawn back into the world of dirty cops and suspicious drug busts, running in the same circles that enabled his addiction those years ago.
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This book is 3rd in the Frank Marr series, but it works as a standalone. I had no problem figuring out the relationships and background of the major characters.
I enjoyed this book until about a third of the way through. Then I hit a I’m-burned-out-on-reading-crime/suspense/anything-with-words phase, and it took an unpardonably long amount of time to finish the last 200 pages. (In case you’re wondering, I had to take a weekend off and watch a bunch of Marvel movies to kick-start my reading adrenalin again. I’m still not back to normal, even after watching all the Captain America movies, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Endgame–twice.)
That’s not Swinson’s fault, obviously. The book is excellent. Here are a few things that I liked:
1. The relationship between the former police partners seems realistic.
Swinson builds up why Frank believes Al, even in the face of contrary evidence. No gun has been found. No witnesses, no video footage, nothing, yet Frank believes Al’s account of the shooting. They’re close friends, but more importantly, they were work partners for years: they know each other in ways that others might not understand. Al was also Frank’s mentor, and Frank feels that he “owes” the other man.
This doesn’t mean that Frank is blind to Al’s shortcomings. When he uncovers some “compromising” photos (not involving the shooting but his relationship with their former street informant), Frank gives Al the riot act. Al’s relationship with Tamie Darling is unethical, but it compromises all the investigations where Darling was an informant. Frank’s confrontation with Al is fierce and honest.
2. The understated prose works well for the story being told.
Swinson doesn’t give us lush descriptions of anyone or thing in the novel. This isn’t a book that relies on appearances–which can be deceitful–but on action and dialogue. This is bare-bones prose that suits the narrator’s voice.
3. Swinson does a great job handling Frank’s addiction issues.
Frank has finally kicked a cocaine habit, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t still crave it. I’ve never taken recreational drugs, but Swinson made me feel how desperate Frank is. He’s desperate to kick the addiction, to pass the test of being near it without consuming it, but sometimes, circumstances trigger him, and he’s desperate for his drug fix.
When the novel opens, Frank is breaking into a house and stealing cocaine. (This is the 1st chapter, so it shouldn’t be considered a spoiler.) Then, when he successfully resists the temptation to use the cocaine, he says, “Damn, that’s hard, but I passed the test. Again. How many more tests before I don’t have to worry about failing?” (page 6)
From what I know about addiction, this feels real. Always being tested, always scared of failing, always wondering how long before failure isn’t the default option.
Overall, this is a great novel. There’s lots of f-bombing, though, so if that’s an issue, you should probably skip it. To me, it felt realistic for the setting.
This review also appears on Goodreads and on my blog.
I really liked the raw, authentic view of this main character and his world. I haven’t yet read the two previous books in this series, but Swinson wrote this one well enough that I never felt lost or that I was sitting outside an inside joke. Written in first person, this is a good, classic hard-boiled noir about a couple modern-day cops and the struggles they endure. I like the grit of this book, and I’m looking forward to Swinson’s other works.