You’ve all seen the movie where a cop’s boss chastises him for something or other. Well in the case of Wolinski his boss (the mayor) uses him as a blunt instrument to tamp down crime in the city. The politicians look the other way while Wolinski cleans up crime by outright executing the evil doers. As the story unfolds the years and crimes have taken their toll on Wolinski- he drinks too much, smokes too much, and closes himself off emotionally by engaging only with prostitutes. Then when the mayor dies mysteriously, the politically incorrect cop is put out to pasture as fast as supposedly saner heads can manage.
When the city suddenly becomes the hunting ground for a vicious serial killer, who has some rather unique appetites, the powers realize Wolinski is the only one who can clean up the mess. Wolinski is the hunter that can take down this predator. Unfortunately he has to watch out not only for the killer but his own ass and shady past acts as everyone else around him like the FBI and the Mob tries to either take him down or get in his way. Richly interwoven into all this is a interesting situation involving Wolinski’s city and the neighboring state and the bridge that separates them.
The novel has a unique flavor in that the story is told from different perspectives: Wolinski himself, the killer, and a modified first person. Wolinski is a deeply realized character who despite his many flaws has a rich inner personality. The attention to detail in the book is fascinating, there are no poetic licenses here, every action is logical and well thought out, which contributes to the overall feeling that life is hard. The dialogue rings so true you begin to feel you are right there in the action, which is practically nonstop. There is so much going on in Wolinski you’ll never get bored. Great read!
