Valentino Pier

July 29, 2013
At the start of Edgar-finalist Coleman’s cliché-ridden sequel to Dirty Work, New York City gumshoe Gulliver Dowd, acutely aware of his physical deformities, offers to help Ellis Torres, a 10-year-old street kid, find a missing dog, appropriately named Ugly. Gulliver easily masters that challenge, but things get more complicated when Ellis is beaten into a coma. Dowd resolves to find justice for the boy, and also hopes to recharge his nonexistent love life by hooking up with an attractive assistant at the veterinarian’s office where he had Ugly treated. The short sentences and dependent clauses rapidly become tiresome (“There was a knock at the door. Ugly didn’t like that. He stirred. Walked to the door. Growled a low, steady growl”). Characters respond to danger with inappropriate wisecracks that further diminish any sense of plausibility. And certain passages will have readers just scratching their heads in confusion. Agent: David Hale Smith, Inkwell Management.

September 1, 2013

Brooklyn PI Gulliver Dowd is a dwarf, but don't underestimate his detecting or martial arts abilities. Dowd helps Ellis, a local street kid, find his lost dog but is then startled to learn that the boy has been viciously attacked and is now hospitalized. After asking around the industrial area of Red Hook, Brooklyn, where Ellis makes his home, Dowd realizes the boy saw something illegal and the crooks want to silence him. It doesn't take long before Dowd is in danger, too. VERDICT Coleman, the award-winning author of the Moe Prager series, is a welcome addition to the talented stable of writers who have joined Orca's Rapid Reads line. Mixing accessible prose meant to draw in new and reluctant readers with an exciting plot, Coleman introduces a gutsy, street-savvy hero. More, please.

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