cover image Blood in Brooklyn

Blood in Brooklyn

Gary Lovisi. Do-Not Press, $15.95 (176pp) ISBN 978-1-899344-48-2

Tough Brooklyn PI Vic Powers, hero of a number of Lovisi's short stories, gets his first (nearly) full-length outing in this double-barreled effort, starring in a novella followed by a short story. The first hard-boiled tale gets rolling when a low-life snitch, about to impart some information to the jaded PI, is shot to death while Powers is standing next to him. Shortly thereafter, Powers tracks down a deadbeat dad who meets the same fate. Coincidence? Vic thinks so until a cop who is investigating the two murders becomes the third victim. Powers realizes that he himself is the sniper's target and that anyone close to him is in danger. Closest of all is his wife and partner, fellow ex-cop Gayle, and Powers is tormented by fears for her safety. In blunt, often crude, prose meant to evoke a violent, heartbreaking world but frequently verging on parody of the pulpiest pulps, Lovisi flashes back to Powers's brutal childhood and his friendship with a sadistic street fighter named Cliff. Sure enough, 30 years later, Cliff is revealed to be the man after Powers. When Cliff kidnaps Gayle, Powers sets off on a chase across Brooklyn, which culminates in a violent confrontation on the Brooklyn Bridge. The biggest surprises are still to come, though, and the novella ends abruptly just as the drama crescendos, leaving the puzzled reader high and dry. The short story, ""Violence Is the Only Solution,"" which involves the rescue of a runaway girl from the clutches of a group of neo-Nazis, features a surprising twist at the end, but gets bogged down in a rant against all the world's injustices. (Nov.)