Saints of New York
"Dark and intense, Saints of New York opens, quite literally with a blood bath and from there you are in the master’s hands and he’s not letting go until that last satisfying page is turned."
Synopsis:
The death of a young heroin dealer causes no great concern for NYPD Detective Frank Parrish. Danny Lange is just another casualty of the drug war. But when Danny's teenage sister is also found murdered, questions are raised that have no clear answers.
Parrish, already under investigation by Internal Affairs for repeatedly challenging his superiors, is committed to daily interviews with a Police Department counsellor. As the homicides continue - and a disturbing pattern emerges - Frank tries desperately to make some sense of the deaths, while battling with his own demons.
To complicate matters he is trying to live up to the reputation of his father, John - not only a legendary NYPD detective, but also one of the original 'Saints of New York' - the men charged with the responsibility of ridding New York of the final vestiges of Mafia control in the 1980s. Parrish struggles to come to terms with the broken pieces of his own life. But, as the murders escalate, he must discover the truth behind them before there are further innocent victims.
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Review:
The freshly announced winner of the Theakston Award for A Simple Act of Violence, RJ Ellory keeps the momentum (and the quality) going with this, his latest offering. Dark and intense, Saints of New York opens, quite literally with a blood bath and from there you are in the master's hands and he's not letting go until that last satisfying page is turned. My reaction to the main character and how well I am drawn to his journey is always a measure as to how successful the author has been - and few work this as well as RJ Ellory. Frank Parrish is your archetypal New York detective; committed and flawed in equal measures. But Ellory injects a freshness to this by the simple expedient of drawing his character so well. Parrish is a conflicted man; haunted by the belief his father is not who the world thinks he ism but compelled to be the best policeman he can be. If that means he circumvents what he sees as a deeply flawed system then so be it. Catching the bad guy is all. As usual in an Ellory novel the research is on the button and perfectly pitched to help propel the story along. In this case the research is being used to highlight the plight of female teenage runaways and the nefarious ends that the corrupt have for them. Saints of New York is a novel of corruption and salvation, of the unshakable persistence needed to uncover the truth and of one man's pursuit for meaning hidden among the phantoms of his psyche.