What You Wish For (Otto Penzler Books) - Hardcover

Cray, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786710853 ISBN 13: 9780786710850

Publisher: Carroll & Graf, 2002

Synopsis

To enthusiastic reviews David Cray staked out his gritty, darkly realistic territory in the field of crime fiction with the gripping police procedural Little Girl Blue. In it, he also introduced the tough-minded NYPD lieutenant Julia Brennan and disaffected undercover cop Peter Foley—just two of the reasons that prompted the Cleveland Plain Dealer to note, “It’s only a matter of time before the reading world discovers David Cray.” That time has come with Brennan’s second outing in New York’s criminal underworld. Now a captain and commanding officer of the district attorney’s Sex Crimes Unit, Brennan is investigating the homicide of Adeline Rose, who has been found murdered in the third-floor sitting room of her Manhattan townhouse. So consumed does Julia become by the case, in fact, that she barely notices Peter Foley has not been returning her phone calls. Foley has discovered that his young daughter, kidnapped more than five years before, is still alive. Prepared to do anything to get his child back, Foley has intentionally been avoiding the more scrupulous Julia. She, though, will soon prove to be his fiercest ally—in a deadly game with stakes so high that no rules hold. “A master manipulator ... with sardonic humor.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

In this well-oiled crime novel, tough, smart, beautiful New York detective Julia Brennan investigates the murder of Adeline Rose, a wealthy Upper East Side widow with a shady past, while ex-cop boyfriend Peter Foley goes undercover to rescue his 11-year-old daughter from the child pornographers who kidnapped her five years earlier. Uptown, Julia, now a captain in the district attorney's Sex Crimes Unit, quickly identifies three prime suspects for Rose's homicide: her slick lawyer, junkie stepdaughter and menacing stepson. All three hated the woman and all three lied to the police. Julia evades easy answers, uncovering the murderous plot with the same savvy she applies to interoffice politics. Downtown, Peter has no easy answers, no press conferences and no office. With only an amateur videotape to suggest his daughter is still alive, he is ready to do anything to get her back. As the bruised bodies of pornographers and thugs pile up along Peter's path, Julia is warned he may not be the ideal match for an ambitious woman like her. Cray (Little Girl Blue, etc.) uses time-tested formulas, filling his uptown mystery with clever dialogue and his downtown crime caper with action. He delivers ample amounts of sex and violence, followed by redemptive portions of morality and family feeling. Cray knows readers turn to crime fiction to satisfy a need for poetic justice-clean endings, puzzles with all the pieces in place-and he doesn't disappoint. The villains suffer the nasty fates they deserve; the heroes triumph, ready for the sequel.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In a gritty crime story set in the underbelly of New York City, good guys are difficult to differentiate from bad ones. Just as appealing is a police procedural in which good defeats evil by following the letter of the law. Here, in Cray's fourth novel, the two worlds collide, with a thoroughly engaging result. Julia Brennan, first introduced in Little Girl Blue (2001), is an uptown police captain investigating the death of a well-to-do elderly woman. As Julia focuses exclusively on the details of her case, her boyfriend, Peter Foley, follows a new lead regarding his daughter Patti's disappearance, the object of his five-year obsession. As an ex-cop, Peter must resort to vigilantism to help find Patti. But given their public relationship, how will his unscrupulous tactics affect Julia's standing as a by-the-books officer? Peter seeks to distance himself from her for this very reason, but little does he know that it's Julia who will aid him in his efforts, risking not only her career but her life as well. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About this edition

• Publisher: Carroll & Graf
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0786710853
• ISBN 13: 9780786710850
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 313