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MANHATTAN SOUTH: A NOVEL OF THE NYPD
by John Mackie
Onyx, July 2002
384 pages
$6.99
ISBN: 0451410459


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

This could have been a great book, if about a third of the words had been edited out. Manhattan South has something for everyone: private eyes, police departments, mob connections, the Russian mob, politics, police departmental politics, new loves, and regrets about lost love. The question is: does it really need all of that?

John Mackie's novel of the NYPD is not a mystery. The reader sees the crimes committed, often planned, and knows who the bad guys are. The suspense is in seeing if Sergeant Thornton Savage can figure out who's responsible in time to minimize the carnage, and save his own career. The book begins with three deaths: a shapely middle-aged blonde, her date (rumored to be a bit player with the Gambino family), and the unfortunate bartender on duty that night. The PI who was following the blonde, who was in the men's room when the hit was made, emerges a minute too soon, and ends up hovering between life and death.

Thorn Savage wisely decides to keep his options open, and not immediately assume that the Mafia took out one of its own, and the others just got caught in the crossfire. Before long the plot is thickened with a US Senator and presumed nominee for President, and his ambitious lesbian wife. The Russian mob enters the scene. And the body count continues to escalate. The politically appointed deputy police commission decides Thorn is the savage in this situation, and moves to terminate his career.

The plot is compelling, but, oh, is this book verbose. Every bit character is introduced with a biography the length of an encyclopedia entry. Someone has breakfast, and Mackie tells us not only what he had to eat, but howİhe would have fixed the bacon had he been the cook. The descriptions of men's clothing are worthy of GQ. (At one point Sergeant Savage is at work sockless, and is called to meet with the police commission. Here he is in khaki pants, and the only socks at hand are black!) Details are nice. Descriptions of clothing, childhood memories, allusions to hobbies do tell important things about a character. But Mackie really takes this to extremes. If he can learn to control this, he could write a really good book.

Reviewed by Debbie Bogenschutz, May 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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