Saturday, October 3, 2009

Where The Dead Lay (Frank Behr) by David Levien


David Levien and his PI Frank Behr return after the stunning debut City Of The Sun. Behr's martial arts teacher is killed, resulting in him investigating it. Also his old boss from his years as a cop and a big investigation firm want to hire his services to track down a few missing investigators. Of course these two investigation end up being tied together, but the value of this book doesn't come from the mystery but from the character Frank Behr. I haven't seen such a driven, impressive detective since Harry Bosch. In fact, often David's writing reminds me of Michael Connelly, a great compliment indeed. A man haunted by his past, a tough sonofabitch trying to keep a normal relationship with a great woman while trying to come to terms with the death of his son. That's what this novel is about.
Oh, sure, there's a criminal family which is quite nicely portrayed and some hardhitting action scenes to keep all hardboiled readers nicely satisfied but when I closed the book Mr. Behr kept me company in my mind for days after.

1 comment:

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