Where the Dead Lay

P.I. Frank Behr is big, tough, and hard as a rock--but he sometimes develops a soft spot. So when he learns that his martial arts mentor has been gunned down, he sets out on a relentless search for the killers. Additional story lines involve the hunt for two missing detectives and a family (a father and two sons) that kills and maims without mercy. Ultimately, all these plots come together. There's no better narrator to deliver the goods than Scott Brick. He masters all the ironic dialogue, and can be both straightforward and menacing as he depicts the driven detective, who refuses to take no for an answer. Brick's descriptions of several martial arts fights, blow by blow, are outstanding. You feel like you're really watching the brutal action unfold. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine

May 25, 2009
Indianapolis PI Frank Behr juggles two cases in Levien's disjointed follow-up to City of the Sun
. When Behr's Brazilian jujitsu instructor is shot to death execution-style at the Brazilian's martial arts studio, he decides to investigate unofficially. A real job soon comes Behr's way when a high-powered PI firm asks him to track down two of their missing investigators, who disappeared in the middle of a case involving derelict properties being used for illegal gambling dens. In taking a close look at the gaming dens, Behr comes face to face with a family of thugs who have launched a turf war to secure a monopoly on neighborhood crime. Despite the book's hefty body count, Levien is more interested in exploring the nature of violence, contrasting the controlled beauty of jujitsu with the unpredictable dangers of gunfights. While readers will admire Behr's determination to solve his friend's murder, some may feel that case distracts too much from his formal assignment.