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Decades in the desert have made reporter Michael Callan hard as a sun-bleached skull. But mutilated migrants and his ex-flame keep causing Callan trouble ... even if they're six feet under. Mix an innocent beauty with a savage one, add an assembly of killers, thugs, and a surgeon. Stir vigorously, and you've got a bloody cocktail-lethal for an Irishman who doesn't drink. This is the first novel by Charles Kelly, an award-winning reporter for the Arizona Republic. His in-depth knowledge of criminals, reporters and the issue of illegal immigration across the Arizona-Mexico border are all perfect fodder for this shocking crime fiction debut.
"At the start of Kelly's poetic first novel, Phoenix Scribe reporter Michael Callan stands at the grave of Rhea Montero, a woman he once loved who he suspects ran a crime syndicate he's investigating. A friend from Rhea's childhood, the naïve Daly Marcus, can't believe Rhea could have been a crook. Together Callan and Marcus seek the truth as murder erupts around them and they're drawn into a web of human trafficking and darker crimes. Kelly, a longtime reporter for the Arizona Republic, excels in capturing the local scene, the high desert and Phoenix itself, with such intriguing neighborhoods as the gangbanger purlieus of the West Valley, where I once heard a driver chastised because his booming car radio was drowning out a gunfight." -- Publishers Weekly
"At the start of Kelly's poetic first novel, Phoenix Scribe reporter Michael Callan stands at the grave of Rhea Montero, a woman he once loved who he suspects ran a crime syndicate he's investigating. A friend from Rhea's childhood, the naïve Daly Marcus, can't believe Rhea could have been a crook. Together Callan and Marcus seek the truth as murder erupts around them and they're drawn into a web of human trafficking and darker crimes. Kelly, a longtime reporter for the Arizona Republic, excels in capturing the local scene, the high desert and Phoenix itself, with such intriguing neighborhoods as the gangbanger purlieus of the West Valley, where I once heard a driver chastised because his booming car radio was drowning out a gunfight." -- Publishers Weekly
172 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 15, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 3, 2012
Daly Marcus is thrilled when she gets a phone call telling her that her best and oldest friend, Rhea Montero is offering her a job opportunity in Phoenix. Even better, Rhea has arranged for a plane ticket so that Daly can come immediately. Short of money, though, Daly cashes in the ticket and takes the bus to Phoenix, arriving a day and a half later than she was expected. On arriving, Daly attempts to contact Rhea, only to learn that Rhea has been killed in a highway accident and that her funeral is in an hour.
Devastated, Daly races to the cemetery to see her friend buried and there she encounters Michael Callan, an investigative reporter who's chasing after a criminal conspiracy that involves, among other things, the smuggling of illegal immigrants some of whom have wound up dead and savagely mutilated. Callan, an Irishman who has a complicated past and who defies the stereotype by refusing to drink, believes that Rhea Montero may have been deeply involved in the criminal conspiracy. But unable to maintain an objective detachment, he had fallen for Rhea and had been having an affair with her.
Callan sees Daly Marcus as a potential source, but Callan's description of the dead woman is totally at odds with Daly's vision of the angelic Rhea who was her best friend. Acting sometimes in concert and sometimes at odds with each other, Callan and Daly mount a search to uncover the real Rhea Montero. Callan is desperate to save the story he so badly wants to write and to exorcise the demons he still carries from his relationship with Rhea. Daly is determined to disprove Callan's allegations and to save her dead friend's reputation.
The search takes both of them on a dangerous trek through the underside of Phoenix, a city that is constantly reinventing itself and that often has little use for its own past. Kelly, who was himself an award-winning Phoenix newspaper reporter, knows the city inside and out and is at his best in his portrayal of the city and its population. The story races to a surprising and explosive conclusion and is bound to delight any reader who enjoys hard-boiled crime fiction.
Devastated, Daly races to the cemetery to see her friend buried and there she encounters Michael Callan, an investigative reporter who's chasing after a criminal conspiracy that involves, among other things, the smuggling of illegal immigrants some of whom have wound up dead and savagely mutilated. Callan, an Irishman who has a complicated past and who defies the stereotype by refusing to drink, believes that Rhea Montero may have been deeply involved in the criminal conspiracy. But unable to maintain an objective detachment, he had fallen for Rhea and had been having an affair with her.
Callan sees Daly Marcus as a potential source, but Callan's description of the dead woman is totally at odds with Daly's vision of the angelic Rhea who was her best friend. Acting sometimes in concert and sometimes at odds with each other, Callan and Daly mount a search to uncover the real Rhea Montero. Callan is desperate to save the story he so badly wants to write and to exorcise the demons he still carries from his relationship with Rhea. Daly is determined to disprove Callan's allegations and to save her dead friend's reputation.
The search takes both of them on a dangerous trek through the underside of Phoenix, a city that is constantly reinventing itself and that often has little use for its own past. Kelly, who was himself an award-winning Phoenix newspaper reporter, knows the city inside and out and is at his best in his portrayal of the city and its population. The story races to a surprising and explosive conclusion and is bound to delight any reader who enjoys hard-boiled crime fiction.
September 18, 2017
I found the best feature of this book to be the evocation of Arizona: the old vs. the new. Kelly frequently draws contrasts between the city and the open desert, and the effects of urbanization. He clearly loves the down-at-heel old Phoenix.
As for the story itself, even though it's well written and has good characters, I never really warmed to it. It's hard to put a finger on why, but pacing has a good bit to do with it. This book is not long but felt like it took a good while to get where it was going, and the payoff was a little too familiar.
As for the story itself, even though it's well written and has good characters, I never really warmed to it. It's hard to put a finger on why, but pacing has a good bit to do with it. This book is not long but felt like it took a good while to get where it was going, and the payoff was a little too familiar.
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