Reggie Nadelson, Red Hook

Red Hook

Reggie Nadelson

Walker, October 2006, $23.95

ISBN: 0802715340

In 2004, as the Republican National Convention prepares to begin in New York City, NYPD and the Feds worry about terrorist activity. Department Detective Artie Cohen, born in the Soviet Union, but a local for twenty-five years, feels optimistic with blues skies smiling at him as he is getting married to his beloved Maxine Crabbe, and while Republicans will own Manhattan he will be honeymooning.

However, his blue skies turn cloudy, not due to the Bushian led invasion, but instead because his long time friend reporter Sid McKay calls him a couple of times with cryptic messages that seem to call for help and overtly accuse the news media of pampering corruption, especially covering the administration. Only for Sid would Artie dig even a little into the connection between the Russian mafia and a questionable real estate deal, as he is about to leave town on his honeymoon. However, when someone kills Sid, Artie needs to learn who, and especially why, but unravelling the truth also opens information about his late close friend that Artie does not want to know.

Artie is at his best as he runs the City from Hunts Point in the Bronx to Red Hook in Brooklyn, and a few stops in Manhattan. He is at his best, as this investigation has turned personal at a time when he was euphoric, but as he digs deep into the Sid scenario, he becomes sad and depressed. The storyline hooks readers from the moment that Artie finds Sid and keeps readers' attention until the final altercation in the harbor. Artie is in top form, as he behaves more like a noir star than a cop, as he unravels truths that remind him of his heritage as much as solving who killed Sid.