From the author of Fickle comes a dark, fast-paced tale of suspense that will appeal to fans of classic and contemporary noir alike.
A playboy lawyer plunges from the roof of a Boston hotel. A Rhode Island strip club owner is found dead in pool of his own vomit. Both men were spotted, shortly before their deaths, with a mysterious woman who left behind a trail of filterless cigarettes, purple lipstick, and French perfume. And both men helped perpetrate an incident, years earlier, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in which an angry group of five flipped the car of a criminally negligent driver, leaving the kid behind the wheel disfigured and brain damaged.
To any outside observer, the two deaths seem like isolated incidents, even accidents. But Boston homicide cop-on-the-rise Marina Papanikatis can’t shake the gnawing feeling that there’s a more sinister force at play. Eager, dogged, and determined to prove her worth, Papanikatis realizes that not only are these murders linked, they’re merely the tip of the iceberg in one vengeful femme fatale’s plot to systematically eliminate every last member of the original Dorchester Five.
"Noir fans should enjoy the twists and turns that echo such genre classics as Double Indemnity and The Asphalt Jungle.”—Publishers Weekly on Fickle
The Dorchester Five by Peter manus. A playboy lawyer plunges from the roof of a Boston hotel. A Rhode Island strip club owner is found dead in pool of his own vomit. Both men were spotted, shortly before their deaths, with a mysterious woman who left behind a trail of filterless cigarettes, purple lipstick, and French perfume. And both men helped perpetrate an incident, years earlier, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in which an angry group of five flipped the car of a criminally negligent driver, leaving the kid behind the wheel disfigured and brain damaged. A very good read with good characters. 4*. Netgalley and diversion books.
The prologue, written by Nightingale, gives readers the backdrop of the story. A young man driving a VW hits an old woman walking across the street and kills her. An angry mob flips the car before Jakey can escape, causing the car to burst into flames. Jakey is badly burned with brain damage. Five members of the mob are tried for the crime but acquitted. These five men are known as the Dorchester Five.
Eight years later, the lawyer who represented the men is lured up to the roof of a building by a tempting woman wearing a wig and purple lipstick. He falls to his death. Another man involved in the mob owns a strip club and takes a woman to his office. He is found dead a few minutes later. Police detective Marina and her partner Harry begin investigating the deaths and figure out that more are probably coming.
The story is told in chapters narrated by Nightingale and Marina. In the first chapter, it's apparent that Nightingale is the killer. The story gives Nightingale's description of her time with the men right before the killing. I assumed she is settling the score for Jakey but who is she? She is obviously not a professional killer but she has planned the murders ahead of time. I was intrigued by her character as well as Marina's.
The writing style has a modern flair to it. Marina has some psychic abilities. If you read the story carefully, the author gives clues throughout the book that lead up to the twists at the end. I was surprised which makes me like the book more.
I won this book from good reads. Thank you I was interested to read this book because it takes place in a part of Boston that I was familiar with. The story line was good until got near the end and had me lost for a few pages. The next chapter got me back on track. It's a dark story about an elderly woman hit by a car and the driver tried to get away. A gang of men attacked the car and flipped it over causing it go up in flames. A young woman is set on trying to avenge all of the 5 men who were responsible. A series of murders take place that seem to have no connection, the story has so many twist and turns that I found myself lost at times. over all a good read, if you like murder-sex and surprises thrown in
The writing style is a little too modern and "hip" for my taste. Half of the time I cannot understand what is being said or implied. Other than the often abbreviated and confusing verbiage, it was OK.