![]() ![]() When Ryan is accused of racism, for example, the reader is apparently meant to be horrified that anybody would suggest such a thing. The novel is well-paced and sometimes engaging, but Maguire’s depiction of women feels forced, as does his treatment of race relations. Later, as a solitary cop, Ryan becomes embroiled in a police-brutality scandal while trying to investigate the proliferation of drugs in his community. As a teenager, Ryan falls in with an older boy and starts dealing drugs-a habit he has difficulty breaking, despite the protests of his straitlaced girlfriend, Denise. These sections compellingly depict young Ryan’s troubles, as he never has enough food, or even enough money to do a load of laundry however, the child’s dialogue sometimes comes off as unrealistic. ![]() Ryan’s parents were equally neglectful both were alcoholics, and his father made a habit of taking Ryan to bars as a child before he ultimately abandoned his family. The author leads readers through a series of flashbacks, painting a portrait of a broken man, psychologically damaged by his unhappy childhood. Ryan O’Reilly cuts a familiar figure in the mystery genre: He’s a smart, dirty (but not too dirty) middle-aged cop, incapable of sustaining relationships with women or with his aging father. ![]() In this debut novel, a cop must face his painful past and solve a pressing, present-day mystery. ![]()
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