Brooklyn Three (Crime, Penguin) - Softcover

The longest day ever for Brooklyn Violence Task Force head Francis DeSales (Only the Dead Know Brooklyn, Post-Mortem Effects) begins with the news that black mayoral hopeful Harrison Dillard's campaign manager, Arthur Kaputz, is shot out of his motorcade. That night, Frank will follow a tip from an old girlfriend who's got a line on the killer, a body-builder/terrorist drugged on Sixties fantasies of political violence--but not before his live-in, newscaster Megan Moore, and guilt-ridden prof Ben Asterisky of the Institute for Urban Studies follow separate trails (a sex-violence-politics videotape and a class list from 20 years ago) to the same Semtex-streaked building for an explosive finale. As powerfully baroque as ever, although Boyle's crazy killer doesn't seem much crazier than his saner neighbors. Don't expect to see copies at the Brooklyn Tourist Office. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Boyle mixes a striking backdrop of racial tension in a Brooklyn setting with a ripe-for-conflict (if somewhat old hat) romance and an unknown psychopath into a scenario that promises much. Detective Inspector Frances DeSales investigates the murder of a white man in a black candidate's campaign organization; Frank's lover, meanwhile, tries to scoop the case for TV. Chilling scenes of the wacked-out psycho alternate with gritty street sketches and standard police procedure, but the conclusion leaves a few too many questions unanswered. Some graphic sex and violence contribute to immediacy; however, the novel remains a marginal purchase, especially when compared to Kellerman.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.