Monkey in the Middle by Stephen Solomita

Monkey in the Middle by Stephen Solomita

Synopsis

Macys, New York, five days before Christmas - When a known mobster is hit while shopping in Macys, its Lieutenant Solly Epsteins job to make sure the press dont link the murder to those of three other members of Paulie Margarine Marginellas crew. As rival gangs are implicated and the hitman no longer seems under anyones control, the winner will take it all. But with everybody seemingly double-crossing everybody else, who will that be?

⇒ Via: BN.com

Assasin for hire, fading cop in a battle of wits. Forgettable.

Wicked City by Ace Atkins

Wicked City by Ace Atkins

Synopsis

From "one of crime fiction's most interesting and passionate voices" (Laura Lippman) comes a new "noir crime classic" (Mystery Ink) about one of the most notorious towns in American history.

Reviewing White Shadow, the Associated Press wrote, "It is as gritty as James Ellroy's L.A. Confidential. And yet, the prose is as lyrical as James Lee Burke's Crusader's Cross. With White Shadow, Atkins has found his true voice." And with Wicked City, it is even truer.

In 1955, Look magazine called Phenix City, Alabama, "The Wickedest City in America," but even that may have been an understatement. It was a stew of organized crime and corruption, run by a machine that dealt with complaints forcefully and with dispatch. No one dared cross them-no one even tried. And then the machine killed the wrong man.

When crime-fighting attorney Albert Patterson is gunned down in a Phenix City alley in the spring of 1954, the entire town seems to pause just for a moment- and when it starts up again, there is something different about it. A small group of men meet and decide that they have had enough, but what that means and where it will take them is something they could not have foreseen. Over the course of the next several months, lives will change, people will die, and unexpected heroes will emerge-like "a Randolph Scott western," one of them remarks, "played out not with horses and Winchesters but with Chevys and .38s and switchblades."

Peopled by an extraordinary cast of characters, both real and fictional, Wicked City is a novel of uncommon intensity-rich with atmosphere and filled with sensuality and surprise.

⇒ Via: BN.com

A Group of do gooders take on the might of organized crime in Phenix City.
The narrative could be crisper. The cast of characters do no grab your attention.

A Good Indian Wife by Anne Cherian

A Good Indian Wife by Anne Cherian

Synopsis

A clash of hearts and cultures set against the divergent backdrops of rural India and downtown San Francisco.

Handsome anesthesiologist Neel prides himself on his decisiveness, both in and out of the operating room. So when he agrees to return to India to visit his ailing grandfather, he is sure he'll be able to resist his family's pleas that he marry a "good" Indian girl. With a girlfriend and a promising career back in San Francisco, the last thing Neel needs is an arranged marriage.

Leila is a thirty-year-old teacher in Neel's family's village who has watched too many prospective husbands come and go to think her newest suitor will be any different. She is well past prime marrying age; her family has no money for a dowry; and then there's the matter of an old friendship with a Muslim boy named Janni.

Neel and Leila struggle to reconcile their own desires with the expectations of others in this riveting story of two people, two countries, and two ways of life that may be more compatible than they seem.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tale of an Indian American who is conflicted between the two cultures and his wife who finds herself upon arriving in the US. Insightful and very true to reality.

The Betrayers by James Patrick Hunt

The Betrayers by James Patrick Hunt

Synopsis

On a busy suburban street at almost nine o’clock on a misty November evening, two beat cops are machine-gunned down in one of the most brutal crimes St. Louis has ever seen. Did Deputy Chris Hummel and Deputy Wade Childers simply pull over the wrong reckless driver, or did someone target these two for a more sinister reason?

Lieutenant George Hastings is the primary investigator on the case, along with his detective Bobby Cain, an inexperienced but connected detective who is ambitious and impolitic. Hastings and Cain dissect the lives the two murdered officers, focusing in on Hummel after they learn that he did a year-long stint with narcotics undercover and helped put away one of the biggest meth dealers in the area. But what they uncover is much bigger than one bitter dealer’s revenge, and much more personal.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Ruthless psychopath kills couple of policemen triggering an investigation that ultimatly to his downfall. The short novel is interesting enough but leaves you wanting more.