Faces of the Gone

Once again, hounded by one of my non-review writing bibliophile friends (Matt, you know I’m talking about you) to read an author not yet reviewed in the blog, I read Brad Parks first novel, Faces of the Gone. This one came with promise given that it won two prestigious awards in 2010, the Shamus and Nero Awards. Impressive credentials for a first time novelist. I was not disappointed.

Carter Ross is an investigative reporter for the Newark Eagle-Examiner, a fictional newspaper. The book opened with a grisly scene of the quadruple homicide of four heroin dealers, three men and one woman, all shot in the back of a head in a vacant lot in Newark. The villain was known as the Director. He had been selling the best pure heroin ever to hit the market in Newark, 99% pure, and it was his clear expectation that his dealers would deliver “The Stuff” in the uncut form – except the four dead dealers had decided to cut the product. None of them had known the penalty for going against the Director’s orders, and he wanted the murders to get maximum publicity so the rest of his dealers would cooperate with him henceforward.

The Feds and the National Drug Bureau got involved and took the crime investigation out of the hands of the local cops, who only too happy to get rid of the case. Newark was already producing enough murders for them to deal with. But, the NDB did not want to share information with Ross. As Ross made progress with his investigations and had developed sources on all of the four murdered suspects, suddenly his house and the home locations of each of the dealers and sources were blown up or set on fire. Then, one of his sources was found dead at the same spot the first four bodies were found.

Much about the murders did not make sense to Carter Ross, a wise-cracking guy, 31 years old, single, and the best reporter on the paper, and the main plot had to do with his investigation. Ross was a very hetero guy who was being hit on by biological clock-ticking 38-year-old Tina Thompson, who happened to be the paper’s city editor. Ross had an intern, Tommy Hernandez who happened to be a flaming gay. One the one hand, Parks produced a gripping plot which had a great twist at the end, and on the other hand, he provided character development and dialogue as good as any that I’ve read lately. Both Ross and Hernandez were very comfortable with their sexual orientation and neither was threatened by the other. The open teasing between them was priceless, playing off stereotypes in a refreshing manner. The female dealer who was killed happened to be an exotic dancer at the very black Stop In Go-Go, which led to Ross and Hernandez going there to talk to the other dancers. Hernandez could not believe he had to step foot in an ultimate hetero titty bar. The dialogue between these two was hysterical. Then, with Tina’s open sexuality and pursuit of Ross to be the father of her baby, the interplay of these three characters was fantastic. The interaction between the white and black characters which was equally compelling.

So, we have a great plot, great characters, and great dialogue. I’ve already downloaded the second book in this six book series, Eyes of the Innocent.