Rogue Island

Rogue Island is actually Rhode Island, so named by the author, Bruce DiSilva because he describes the government and businesses being so dominated by the mafia and corruption. This is a good crime novel about a serial arsonist, who just happened to kill a number of people along the way as he tried to burn down the slum section of Providence. The protagonist is Liam Mulligan, an investigative newspaper reporter who is determined to solve the crime despite the inadequacies of Policki, Chief Arson Investigator, and Policki, his assistant. Mulligan kept publishing articles about the fires in which he referred to them as Dumb and Dumber. It’s a good story and the author didn’t give away the plot until the end. His writing was good and the character development was good. He had a variety of supporting characters, all of whom were believable, if not compelling.

I found this book when I read the novel Galveston by Nic Pizzolatto. I was very impressed with that one. It got my highest recommendation, but it was only a finalist for the Edgar Award for first time American crime novelists in 2011, and Rogue Island won that category. So, I had to read this one too. I’m surprised the award when to DiSilva because the drama in this book did not approach what was written in Galveston. Still, this is a solid and entertaining book, and the writing about such horrible crimes was lighthearted and often times humorous. For example, when he wrote about the choice to become a reporter in an age when newspapers and dying, DiSilva wrote, “Why does anyone do it? Because it’s a calling – like the priesthood but without the sex.” The book was filled with such anecdotes. I would put this novel along with the best of my airplane novels, one which would keep me amused on a flight from LAX to O’Hare, but not one that would interfere with a needed nap along the way.