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TOO BEAUTIFUL TO DIE is one of those books where you're not quite sure whether you like the hero, and where you spend an inordinate amount of time wondering if he isn't just being contrary for the hell of it. Blades Overstreet (no, he's not an escapee from science fiction or from a Dick Francis novel) is a former NYPD cop who isn't flavour of the month with his former employees. He's still waiting for a settlement after being invalided out when a drugs bust went wrong and another cop put a bullet in him. His life was saved by Jimmy Lucas, a cab driver, who loaded him into his cab and took him to hospital. So when Jimmy comes along asking for a favour, Blades can't refuse. Much against his will, he's roped in to helping gorgeous soap opera actress Precious find her missing father. But suddenly it all goes pear-shaped when Blades stumbles over across a dead FBI agent and finds that the man's colleagues are only too happy to frame him for the murder. He's soon running far and fast into New York's Caribbean community to clear his name. Blades is arrogant, and pig-headed, particularly when it comes to his estranged wife Anais -- he can't possibly admit he might have been in the wrong! The book's a bit heavy on genre cliches, with the beautiful temptress and a series of 'in one bound Jack was free' scenes. But it's a real page turner, and Blades is a fascinating, if slightly flawed, hero. The most compelling parts for me were the accounts of a mixed race boy growing up in a white household after his parents' relationship broke up, particularly Blades's loyalty to his colour-blind junky brother Jason and his ambivalent relationship with snooty and not so colour-blind sister Melanie.
Reviewed by Sharon Wheeler, July 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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