Maggie Estep Flamethrower

Flamethrower

Maggie Estep

Three Rivers (Crown) Sept 2006, $19.00, 286 pp.

ISBN 1400082730

Ruby is seeing psychiatrist Dr. Judy Ray to try to come to terms with seeing her lover killed before her very eyes. During their appointment, Ruby goes to the bathroom and sees a foot in the fishtank. Judy sees it and identifies it as belonging to her estranged husband Tobias because of the birthmark on the calf of the leg. There is also a note that says "No Police. Just Wait." Judy refuses to call the police and ends her appointment with Ruby.

Later, Judy asks her to find Tobias who might be at a second hideaway in the Rockaways; Ruby agrees to help her. She finds Tobias and learns that he orchestrated the plot but his partner got carried away and cut off his leg as proof that the man was in danger. Ruby leaves and finds that her live in lover wants to leave her because he received some pornographic pictures with her in it and her boss fires her because he believes she stole some money from him. When Tobias offers her $1000 to find Judy who disappeared she accepts because she need the money, not realizing her action will cause a tragedy.

FLAMETHROWER is a gritty and dark urban noir thriller. The protagonist is an interesting individual who copes admirably when her life seems at its bleakest. Readers get an interesting tour of Brooklyn and somewhat Queens, the kind tourists don't see. There is only one villain in this story but that person comes as a surprise to readers who hardly notice the character as Maggie Estep knows how to tell a good story about the lost and lonely people who frequent Ruby's world.

Harriet Klausner