The Cleanup

September 11, 2006
The unlikely tale of an unsuccessful cop, a cute grocery check-out girl and her dead boyfriend gives Doolittle (Raindogs
) plenty to chew on in his latest crime novel. Officer Matthew Worth, a divorcé with little going for him—careerwise in particular—works security at an Omaha supermarket, where he's developed a crush on check-out clerk Gwen. Innocent flirtation turns messy when Gwen kills her abusive boyfriend and turns to Worth for help, pleading self-defense. Instead of calling it in, Worth decides to cover up the murder, leading to trouble with two dirty narcs who were involved with the murder victim in a money-laundering scheme. From there, secrets, lies and murders pile up, pushing Worth from every direction at once. Doolittle has penned a character-driven yet suspenseful novel about choice and consequence, with a well-crafted lead and a narrative style that's punchy and sincere. Though Worth's motivation is sometimes unclear (even, at times, to himself), readers looking for a tense crime drama—hold the procedure—will enjoy getting inside the head of this well-meaning sad sack.

Starred review from October 1, 2006
Anyone foolish enough to say that the age of pulp fiction ended years ago need only pick up one of Doolittle's little noir gems. This one is about a good cop going through a bad streak, a grocery-store cashier ready to dump her abusive boyfriend, and one simple favor that gets blown way out of proportion. Seedy, steamy, quirky, and fidgety, the author's prose feels like it stepped out of the 1950s. And the story is right out of the pulp-fiction manual: a good man who digs himself into a hole so deep that his only choice is to blast his way out. Noir fans will savor this one.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)