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Frank Marr, a retired District of Columbia police officer, knows a lot about illegal narcotics from his days on the force. However, when he was a cop, his goal was to take the dealers off the streets; now, he needs their stash of pot, cocaine, heroin, Percocet, and Valium for himself, though he still draws the line at smoking crack. His principles have been washed away in a sea of alcohol and drugs. His skills at zeroing in on and tracking street dealers back to the place where they hide their stash come in handy for keeping himself suppled with drugs and the money made from selling them. Better yet from his point of view, he doesn't have to stick to upholding the rule of law: He can break and enter, use unnecessary force, or do whatever he wants to without having to answer to a commanding officer or a civilian complaint board. He even avoids all the paperwork. His conscience bothers him sometimes, but that is always trumped by his need to get and remain high.
After Marr tracks down some dealers in the Adams Morgan area of Washington, D.C, his theft of their stash and proceeds takes a surprising turn when Frank comes upon a naked, trussed-up teenage girl in a locked room inside the drug den. He frees her and completes his original mission. But then he deposits her with an attorney he does some private investigations for while he tries to concoct a plausible story to explain what he was doing in such a house to begin with. The last thing he wants is to be labeled a hero and to bring the media spotlight onto himself and his activities.
As soon as he has told the precinct investigators a coherent but not altogether credible narrative, he is prevailed upon by the parents of another missing teenager to locate their daughter. Something about these kidnappings of suburban girls who are being used as sex slaves touches whatever small inner core of decency and honor Frank has left. And so, he begins a prolonged search to locate and rescue the second girl of the title.
Frank is a refreshingly original character in the overworked genre of private investigators. David Swinson's narrative is action packed, and he includes an incredibly detailed account of the abuse of various drugs and their effects on Frank. Swinson has created a more complex character than is usually found at the heart of PI thrillers. If THE SECOND GIRL isn't the start of a new series, it should be.
Christopher Ryan Grant is an excellent choice for the voice of Frank Marr. Grant has narrated a wide variety of audios from the fiction of Nicholas Sparks to the autobiography of Willie Nelson. It is easy to understand why he is in demand. His portrayal of Frank projects a kind of tough take-no-prisoners attitude toward the dealers he has made his prey, yet he can switch gears to offer quiet comfort to victims or their relatives. He easily gives voice to a wide variety of characters—police officers, lawyers, adolescent girls, hopeless young men caught up in the drug trade through their own addictions, and hardened drug lords. Grant's performance enhances this riveting debut novel. Let's hope that both Swinson and Grant will be back soon for a sequel. Meanwhile, for those who like action-packed PI stories and who might have missed this one among the multitude of summer releases, it is not too late to enjoy THE SECOND GIRL.
§ An avid audiophile, Karla Jay is a retired professor of English and Women's & Gender Studies. She is a frequent contributor to this site.
Reviewed by Karla Jay, August 2016
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