Wiley's been getting by in Portland, Oregon by playing poker and occasionally ripping off a drug dealer to make ends meet. Still, it's a shock when the daughter he hasn't seen in a year, Lizzie, turns up dead in a motel room with her throat cut. He's sure she was corrupted by his old school buddy and best friend Leon, who runs an escort business and dated Lizzie for a time. Wiley goes gunning for Leon through Portland's sex industry with the grudging assistance of the black Portland detective they both knew in school, Lt. Sam Adams, but more bodies keep turning up (some even laid out by Wiley), and it looks like something much bigger -- something federal -- may be involved. This 2004 debut novel is tough, profane, and accomplished; it doesn't tell the reader too much and keeps you guessing.
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The review of this Book prepared by David Loftus
Wiley is a professional gambler and con man. He is estranged from his family and friends because of inner torments. His teen aged daughter is murdered by an escort service date that went very bad. The suspect is a protected DEA informant and the DEA is covering up their involvement. Wiley and the underground sex related business people in Portland, Oregon solve the crime. In a final twist a sting is pulled on the killer. Street justice
The review of this Book prepared by Glenn Souza
St. Martin's, Mar 2003, 24.95, 320 pp.
ISBN: 0312303831
Working with the FBI, Fernando guts a hooker in the Evergreen Motel, a cheap joint near the Portland, Oregon Airport. To clean up his trail, Fernando kills a few other people who can associate him with the victim.
Her father Wiley, who even before his daughter's murder, did not care whether he lived or died (all one has to do is ask the drug dealers he mugs in Seattle for a living) identifies the victim as Lizzie. He knows the overworked police will try to solve the homicide, but that is not good enough for him. Though he has not talked with his estranged daughter in over a year, Wiley sees vengeance as a chance to somewhat atone for being a lousy dad. The underground sex industry quickly knows to beware because Wiley will stomp on anyone who fails to point him towards the killer of his child.
The attitudes of Wiley, the killer Fernando, the FBI agent Avina, and the other agents make this investigative crime thriller into a winner. The story line is exciting from the moment Wiley places a gun in the ear of a drug dealer until the climax when High Noon occurs between the two lead characters. Those readers who relish an offbeat electrifyingly wild ride filled with testosterone (even from the female Avina) will want to obtain WILEY'S LAMENT.
Harriet Klausner
The review of this Book prepared by Harriet Klausner
