Jerry Raine, Some Like It Cold

Some Like It Cold

Jerry Raine

Five Star, May 2006, $25.95

ISBN: 1594144281

London club bouncer Brooklyn (named for Neil Diamond not the borough) Rhodes enjoys his work and likes his girlfriend. When she dies in a skiing accident, Brooklyn does not cope well with the death. Needing to escape his environs, Brooklyn flees to the eastern side of the Mediterranean, hiding in Cypress. For the next year he spent his time learning to count cards in blackjack, and for the most part avoiding human contact.

Feeling a bit healed, he heads home to England after a stop in Atlantic City to make some money at the tables. Back home he meets Russian expatriate waitress Katya over carrot passion cake and latte. He learns she is trapped in an unhappy marriage that she stays in for the sake of her infant Vika. He also meets hotshot gambler "Roulette" Rex Hollings who wants to hire Brooklyn to take care of some troubles. As he tries to avoid Roulette and consider a life with Katya and Vika, Brooklyn's recent past follows him from across the Atlantic where New Jersey police and thugs see him as a person of interest.

This urban noir runs along two paths with Brooklyn being the link, as he works the Roulette scenario and courts Katya before the two subplots blend together in an over the top climax. The action-packed storyline contains several tough scenes, with Brooklyn in the middle struggling between making money and running off with Katya. The Russian migr likes Brooklyn, but believes he can never make room for her child; who is part of her package. Jerry Raine provides a strong London Noir that readers will enjoy, wondering just whose side the hero (antihero?) is on.