Our narrator is a cop named Ray Dolan. He’s a patrol officer in a fictional washed-up, decaying, former industrial town called Mansfield, New York. I’m guessing the author drew inspiration from the brick-strewn lots and burned-out factories in New York’s Hudson Valley where he resides.
Ray is a good cop. Honest and hardworking. 35 and single. In the opening scene, he intervenes when a fellow officer tries to beat a suspect with a blackjack. Later that night, he spies the family who just moved into the house behind him. Especially the wife, Sheila. Her husband is an asshole, and Ray quickly becomes infatuated.
We also get to see a lot of great policework from Ray, who is an outstanding and heroic cop. There’s an interesting sub-plot about a racially-tinged incident of excessive force by a fellow officer and the pressure Ray is feeling to engage in a cover-up for the greater good of the force.
As the secret romance between Ray and Sheila intensifies, Ray learns things about Sheila’s husband that would make any right-thinking man wish the guy was gone. It’s a crime-fiction novel, so you kinda see where things are headed. Or do you?
It takes awhile, but a murder does occur. The aftermath is completely bonkers — in a good way. Mark it in your mind. On Page 145, the paperback goes from a good-enough novel about a cop to something totally wild. You want jaw-dropping plot twists? Double-crosses? Patsies? Stool-Pigeons? This fantastic paperback has it all.
The author combines a twisty modern thriller with the femme fatale noir template created by James M. Cain (later honed by Gil Brewer, Harry Whittington, and Orrie Hitt) to create a crime fiction masterpiece. The book seems to be out of print at the moment, and that’s also a crime. Do what you need to do, but find a copy and read this book. Highest recommendation. Get a copy HERE.
