The author of the Cooper MacLeish mystery series (Fear Will Do It, etc.) introduces a new hard-boiled hero to the gritty streets of Chicago, but neither alienated ex-copper Frank Dooley nor his adventures matches Reaves's previous efforts. Dooley was still on the force when his wife was murdered; when the law failed him he took his vengeance and fled to Mexico. Eight years later, he returns home to find the case against him stale and his brother, Kevin, a lieutenant. But life for his former partner, Roy Ferguson, has gotten thorny: his seven-year-old son drowned, his marriage fell apart and now he's deep in debt to Johnny Spanos, a hungry loan shark who's pressuring him to steal evidence. Dooley convinces Roy to pull a sting on Spanos, but it goes terribly wrong, and Roy gets killed. Tough-guy Dooley decides to pull a sting of his own to get Spanos to confess—on pain of death—to Roy's murder. Not only does this strain credibility, it's a bit corny. Like the hero of a spaghetti western, gunslinger Dooley rides back into town to square off against its toughest outlaw. And readers will wonder why the bad guy doesn't simply blow Dooley away: if Spanos defeated his previous foes with ease, why does he have such trouble with Dooley? Reaves has his moments with classic noir fights, both verbal and physical, and even a bit of a romance, but his tale takes too long to get started, and wanders off track too often to be suspenseful. (Oct. 14)
