Sinner's Ball

September 28, 2009
Nasty, brutish and deadly describes the world of Jackson Steeg, as shown in Berkowitz's third novel to feature the ex-NYPD homicide detective with one lung and a weakness for the bottle (after Old Flame
). When a warehouse owned by Steeg's mob-connected brother, Dave, goes up in flames and kills three squatters and two fire fighters, an additional six bodies, sexually mutilated and placed in packing crates, turn up in the basement. Dave is an easy target for an indictment, and when Steeg tries to locate the real culprit, he steps on the wrong toes and finds himself in deep trouble. Berkowitz's brisk style is a perfect fit for this violent world of killers, scam artists, crooked politicians and the downtrodden of all sorts. Steeg is loyal to friends and family, and if that means turning a blind eye occasionally or administering his own form of justice, then so be it. There are no white knights, no storybook endings for Berkowitz, just vivid, ragged slashes of life.