Synopsis
Brooklyn cop Nikki Trakos struggles to cope with personal turmoil as she and her new partner investigate the murder of city councilman Dino Zaporelli, who turns up dead in a desolate Brooklyn parking lot and who appears to have had many enemies
Reviews
Introduced in Dead Ahead , Brooklyn police detective Nikki Trakos makes a welcome second appearance. A smart, nose-to-the-grindstone cop who, at 31, occasionally wonders if she should be married to a man instead of her job, Nikki is now in charge of her first major case, the murder and sexual mutilation of a high-profile Manhattan politician. Given the victim's prominence, Nikki knows she must get results fast. One problem is her new partner, an old-line cynic who resents having to work under a woman younger than his daughter. Another problem is her ex-partner and ex-lover Dave, who doesn't understand her request for some "space." The victim's mutilation and unsavory private life link the case to an old one of Dave's. Nikki and he combine investigations and uncover other murders as they comb Brooklyn and Manhattan for information. The sexual tension between the two cops combines with their tough, original professional work, finally resulting in credible, satisfying resolutions on both fronts.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The Brooklyn shooting of Manhattan city council member Dean Zaporelli sends NYPD Detective Nikki Trakos on an investigation of the past in her first case since Dead Ahead (1990). ``Go down to the Lantern Light Theater,'' reads a note. ``Find out who Tony Zim was.'' Nikki discovers that Zaporelli's missing son, Matt, was connected with the deaths years earlier of a young Lantern Light hanger-on named Lisa Hirsch (overdose) and a man named Bernard Chase, who, it turns out, was shot with the same gun that later killed Zaporelli. Battling the higher-ups that want her off the case and her own fear of commitment to her old partner-cum-suitor Dave Lawton, Nikki, like Lew Archer, asks improbably unerring questions, knows exactly when to go back to a suspect who's been lying, and remembers everything she needs to in order to follow a sordid trail of blackmail, homicide, and coverups. But the rewards--a meaty investigation handled with insight and compassion--are Archeresque too. Nifty, out-of-the-past intrigue unpacked with authority and punch. Welcome to the pros, Nikki. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
NYPD Detective Nikki Trakos is back after Dead Ahead (1990), and this time she's in charge of investigating the murder of widely admired New York City Council member Dino Zaporelli. There is no apparent motive for the killing, but after questioning Zaporelli's wife and campaign staff, Nikki realizes that the victim was not the model husband and father of his public image. While there are some predictable secondary characters here--the invalid wife who resents her husband's inattention, the mistress weary of waiting for her lover's divorce, the estranged gay son--the plot itself is utterly compelling. Trakos takes a lot of risks to follow her instincts--almost losing the case in the process--but manages to find the murderer through thorough leg work, the help of her colleagues, good questioning, and a great ability to spot connections. This is an eminently readable, highly entertaining police procedural; expect Nikki Trakos to be with us for quite some time. Stuart Miller
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