Third Rail

Starred review from April 28, 2014
Eddy Harkness, the hero of Flynn’s terrific debut, used to be a promising detective running the Boston PD’s Narco-Intel drug squad. But a camera caught him in an encounter with a drunken Red Sox fan after a World Series game that ended in the man’s death, and now Eddy is emptying parking meters in his hometown of Nagog, Mass. Even that job is in jeopardy after Eddy loses his gun during a night of partying. With impressive economy and stylish, sophisticated prose, Flynn, the pen name of Stona Fitch (Give + Take), fills in Eddy’s complex backstory (his family was torn apart by his father’s Bernie Madoff–type scandal) while keeping the main action (Eddy’s efforts to locate the missing weapon and return to Boston’s mean streets) moving briskly. In Nagog, Eddy uncovers a dangerous new drug called Third Rail—and, everywhere, he finds deep veins of corruption. In one haunting scene, Eddy notices rats “stopping to nose garbage, sniffing the burgeoning decay, then moving on to search for fresh rot.” Readers will want to see more of Flynn’s gritty Boston—and Eddy Harkness. Agent: Dan Conaway: Writers House.

May 1, 2014

Eddy Harkness, a disgraced ex-Boston PD narcotics detective, is now a cop emptying parking meters in the quaint community of Nagog, MA. After a night of heavy drinking in Zero Room, a sleazy Boston joint he raided years before, Harkness wakes up to find his gun missing. Already the butt of jokes, he hides this loss by buying a toy gun. While emptying meters, he witnesses a local businessman fatally smash his car into a historical monument. Drugs are found in the car, and Harkness gets the OK from the Nagog police commissioner to secretly investigate. The drug, Third Rail, is new, powerful, and expensive. Harkness learns it is manufactured locally. He also uncovers a Boston mayoral candidate's connections to organized crime figures Whitey Bulger and Mach, the gangster owner of Zero Room. Things heat up and bodies turn up in this high-powered police thriller. VERDICT Many plot points in Flynn's first crime novel seem contrived. However, unconventional, down-on-his-luck cop Harkness is a solid character, and the Boston area always makes a vivid mystery setting. There is a lot of action. Some strong secondary characters just might make this new series take off. [Rory Flynn is the pen name of indie publisher Concord Free Press founder and publisher Stona Fitch.--Ed.]--Edward Goldberg, Syosset P.L., NY

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