|
[ Home ]
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
Philadelphia Daily News reporter Flander knows the ins and outs of the People's Paper's city, from the glitzy riverfront bars to the working-class neighborhood shopping streets. Although he hasn't mentioned the notorious Roofers Union and its history of mob connections, he does describe the business of roofing in Philadelphia, with its smoking buckets of hot tar swabbed onto flat-roofed rowhouses and its high level of workers' compensation payouts. He has a nose for the sorts of things that can go wrong from the police perspective, and a great many of these sorts of things do happen within these pages. Sergeant Eddie North has been bounced from the Organized Crime Unit on the basis of anonymous phone calls, and he's now back on street patrol with a shadow hanging over him. His district has a heavy mob presence, which brings him into contact-and conflict-with his former supervisor, and Eddie suspects him of not being as "clean" of gangster influence as he ought to be. Eddie's also got in his squad his cousin Nick, who isn't recovering very well from his father's death in a roofers' "accident," an amorous pair who patrol with their microphones locked to "on" while they discuss looking for a private place to park, and the police commissioner's son, Steve. When Steve is gunned down as he and Nick respond to a 911 call of a woman screaming at a suspected crackhouse, and a witness reports having seen a young black man running from the scene of the crime, young black men all over town are stopped and searched, sometimes respectfully and more often not, even after that running man turns out to be a legitimate citizen in a hurry who hadn't yet left his alibi-crowded home when the gunshot was heard. Riots, a media fest, and mutual suspicions follow, as the search for Steve's killer resumes. The problem with this book is that it could be exhibit A in the case for requiring all police recruits to have a bachelor's degree in criminal justice. The procedure in this police book is often bad, and the actions of those who should know better are typically based on raw emotion alone. Eddie is a very experienced sergeant who's been married and divorced, but he develops a junior high crush on Steve's sister, also a police officer. All of the significant police in this story seem to be running their own independent operations to flush out a suspect, who is often a fellow officer, and their reaction to goof-offs and hotheads on the force is tolerant and even indulgent. In short, Sons of the City has enough local color, colorful characters, and melodrama to get me to read the second book in this series, but I do hope the cast of characters has matured in the interim.
Reviewed by Joy Matkowski, August 2003
[ Top ]
QUICK SEARCH:
Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
[ About | Reviews | Search | Submit ]
[ Home ]
|
