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Barry Gilbert #2
Fall Guy: A Detective Barry Gilbert Mystery
“[A] great story.” —The Globe and Mail
“A clever procedural … a skillful storyteller … Mackay does atmosphere and setting well, and his characters are full-bodied and believable.”—Booklist
Detective Barry Gilbert is called into Toronto's Chinatown to investigate the death of Edgar Lau, a man whose history and connections take the detective on a ride across continents and cultures, and deep into an immigrant family's struggle to survive against harrowing odds.
Gilbert must piece together Edgar's labyrinthine history—from his days as a Vietnamese refugee who made a deadly trek to China by boat, to his affair with a prominent member of Toronto's city government, to his dealings with a Chinese drug baron. Throughout the investigation, damaging and sensitive questions are raised—questions somebody in Toronto’s police department doesn't want answered.
It soon becomes clear to Gilbert that in addition to hunting down Edgar's killer, he must fight police corruption as well—a fight that could threaten the department’s stability and future. This tale of murder and misdoing, family and betrayal, is a riveting police procedural by a masterful mystery author.
“A clever procedural … a skillful storyteller … Mackay does atmosphere and setting well, and his characters are full-bodied and believable.”—Booklist
Detective Barry Gilbert is called into Toronto's Chinatown to investigate the death of Edgar Lau, a man whose history and connections take the detective on a ride across continents and cultures, and deep into an immigrant family's struggle to survive against harrowing odds.
Gilbert must piece together Edgar's labyrinthine history—from his days as a Vietnamese refugee who made a deadly trek to China by boat, to his affair with a prominent member of Toronto's city government, to his dealings with a Chinese drug baron. Throughout the investigation, damaging and sensitive questions are raised—questions somebody in Toronto’s police department doesn't want answered.
It soon becomes clear to Gilbert that in addition to hunting down Edgar's killer, he must fight police corruption as well—a fight that could threaten the department’s stability and future. This tale of murder and misdoing, family and betrayal, is a riveting police procedural by a masterful mystery author.
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 1, 2001
4 people are currently reading
14 people want to read
About the author
Scott Mackay
40 books8 followersAward-winning author Scott Mackay has over thirty-five published short stories to his credit and four novels: OUTPOST, THE MEEK, A FRIEND IN BARCELONA and COLD COMFORT, which was nominated for the 1999 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Novel. He lives in Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 21, 2023
I just finished the second of three books by this author. I'm trying to remember how I got started on the series. I'm starting to wonder if this wasn't such a good idea.
At nearly four hundred pages, I believe if you discarded a hundred of the pages, you'd still get the same result in the end. I kinda found most of this police procedural a bit boring, too wordy. I'm not looking forward to number three, but I do hope it is more interesting. I've read stories on the back of cereal boxes that were better.
At nearly four hundred pages, I believe if you discarded a hundred of the pages, you'd still get the same result in the end. I kinda found most of this police procedural a bit boring, too wordy. I'm not looking forward to number three, but I do hope it is more interesting. I've read stories on the back of cereal boxes that were better.
August 8, 2015
Got a bit lost in the detail at times.
March 7, 2018
Since I like Mackay's SF, I thought I would try this detective book. It was good although not the type of book I would usually read.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews