Tricky

by Josh Stallings

ONE OF THE 10 BEST CRIME FICTION NOVELS OF 2021―LIBRARY JOURNAL 2021 CRIME FICTION PICKS OF THE YEAR―DIVERSE VOICES BOOK REVIEW HONORABLE MENTION, THE BEST CRIME NOVELS OF 2021―CRIMEREADS HONORABLE MENTION, THE BEST NOIR FICTION OF 2021―CRIMEREADS ONE OF THE "MOST ANTICIPATED CRIME BOOKS OF 2021."―CRIMEREADS PICK OF THE MONTH―MysteryPeople Does your past define you forever? That's the question LAPD homicide detective Niels Madsen must answer after he gets in the middle of a standoff between two uniformed officers and Cisco, an intellectually disabled man. Cisco is found armed and standing over the body of a man with Down syndrome. Cisco swears the dead man was his good friend, and he didn’t hurt him, but in his earlier life, Cisco had been gang member, a brilliant and brutal killer. After he was badly beaten, brain injuries left him him―if he is to be believed―with the intellectual intelligence of a child. Madsen's search for the truth leads him through the special needs community, East LA gang life, and pits him up against the corrupt LA Sheriff’s Department. More than a police procedural, Tricky explores questions of human Whether a man can change, for better or worse, and whether redemption is possible.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction

289 pages, Paperback

Published January 19, 2021

About the author

Josh Stallings is author of three critically acclaimed Moses McGuire crime books, Anthony Award nominated memoir All The Wild Children, and Fefty Award nominated, Young Americans.

He has been in no particular order, a film editor, taxi driver, criminal, father, husband, club bouncer, a trailer editor, a screen writer, a bad actor and a good friend.

He lives in the city of his birth, Los Angeles with his wife Erika, two dogs and a cat.

Reviews

[Monique · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a cracking good crime novel.
LAPD homicide detective Niels Madsen finds himself in the middle of a standoff between two uniformed officers and Cisco, an intellectually disabled man. Cisco is found armed and standing over the body of a man with Down syndrome. Cisco swears the dead man was his good friend, and he didn’t hurt him, but in his earlier life, Cisco had been a gang member, a brilliant and brutal killer. After he was badly beaten, brain injuries left him—if he is to be believed—with the intellectual intelligence of a child. Madsen must decide whether or not to believe the suspect who claims innocence, and determine who else can be trusted as he navigates a special needs community, East LA gang life and the political expediency of the LAPD.

From the first page, this novel gets going with its central plot, and this is the aspect of Josh Stallings’ writing that I appreciate the most: he doesn’t waste the reader’s time. His writing is laser-focused, economical and swiftly paced. At our first introduction to Niels, he’s established to be a knight errant, a maverick in the department with a relentless approach to solving cases. His partner, Darius Kazim is new to Homicide and partners with Niels with the additional brief of keeping an eye on him for the Chief. The partnership dynamic between these two characters reminds me of the duo from Department Q, the Jussi Adler-Olsen series, a quirky pairing with sharp, witty dialogue that ricochets through the action without ever intruding upon the action. There were many times where I had to chuckle; the one-liners are genuinely funny without seeming contrived.

The crime plot moves along at a compelling pace, and I ripped through this novel in a day. I enjoyed the freshness of the crime set up, which is the point the novel opens; an intellectually disabled man holds a gun over the dead body of his best friend, whilst two LAPD officers hold their guns on him. What has happened? The plot is compelling and never falls into implausibility or obviousness - I was along for the ride and unable to see the destination at the same rate as the central characters.

There is a love interest for Madsen in the form of Adair Hettrick, Cisco’s social worker and conservator. Again the dialogue between the two characters zings and hums nicely, without ever losing itself to melodrama or, typically with crime novels, sexual objectification and a woman who can’t help herself, which normally has me rolling my eyes.

Madsen is a tough guy, with a soft interior who needs to learn how to trust others. Trust is central to the story: working out who is to be trusted will be key to Madsen staying alive. “Everyone lies to the police,” Madsen tells another character. And then, even the police lie.

I loved this novel - it rollicks along, with punchy dialogue, endearing characters, relentless action and a strongly evocative LA landscape. Highly recommended.

[Mysticpt · Rating 5 out of 5]

The latest from Josh Stallings features new character, homicide detective Niels Madsen. Madson is a pretty decent character and doesn't fall into a lot of the cliches found in normal detective fiction i e he doesn't have nagging ex-wives, a substance abuse problem or go on about a love for books or jazz music. Not that there is anything wrong with that, just nice to see a character without those traits. However this doesn't mean he's perfect, he has his fair share of problems in the department and keeping partners. He comes up on a murder scene and is soon involved in trying to get to the root of the problem. A good cast of supporting characters in this one including a firecracker who is an advocate for the intellectually disabled. great dialogue, some good history of the LA area and realistic discussions of some important issues without laying it on too thick. Rounded up to 5 stars and hopefully we won't have to wait almost 6 years for the next new one from Josh.

[Ctgt · Rating 4 out of 5]

9/10

[Wendopolis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good crime novel.

[Elizabeth Love · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though this latest book by Josh Stallings doesn't come out until January, I was able to get it through NetGalley.

I was hooked in chapter one and crying by chapter three.

There's more to this novel than crime fiction and solving the mystery of who killed David Torres. For background let me explain: Josh and his wife Erika are the parents of Dylan, a young man with special needs who has probably had a bunch of labels relating to his intellectual capacity or how he looks or communicates. The premise of TRICKY came from Dylan. When his father takes shortcuts, he refers to it as going "the tricky way." That combined with the growth in awareness about police violence and how disabled people are treated by them and the general public clearly have part of the roots in TRICKY.

Detective Niels Madsen is a grand Nord by blood and stature but lives the life of a cowboy while working for the LAPD and caring for his grandfather Hem who suffers from dementia. TRICKY has action right out of the gate from page one. Madsen comes across a scene we've witnessed on the internet and news millions of times by now: police have guns raised and pointed at a person of color. There's also a body already dead.

Madsen battles his gut instinct which tells him that something is very wrong with the presentation of uniformed officers pointing guns at a Latino man covered in gang tattoos and holding a unique collectible handgun. Everything looks like Cisco Gutierrez is guilty of killing his supposed friend David. It takes Madsen's gentle cowboy style to convince the officers not to shoot. Madsen approaches the victim and Cisco cautiously when he realizes a couple of important things that make this story worth telling more than others.

The victim, David Torres, is described as having flat features, a small nose, upward slant to his eyes which indicate Down Syndrome. David's limited family members consisting of his mother and grandfather may seem loving and accepting of who David is as a person, but bigotry and bias are among his closest contacts. David and Cisco are best friends and roommates at a house for people with various special needs run by a woman named June Cleaver (yes, her name is acknowledged). LA happens to have something called a SMART team or mental evaluation unit. This is definitely something not available nationwide.

The cop shop has a diverse cast of people of non-Anglo surnames and backgrounds including Madsen's brand new partner Kazim. A few need to be taught that the R-word is not used anymore including Madsen. LA's overall makeup with it's cultural neighborhoods and gang territories are explained colorfully. Grandpa Hem's dementia clouds his reality that he's still an active LA cop. No doubt living with him his entire life gave Madsen some notions about the patience needed to have Cisco around all the time. It's still a learning curve. Cisco takes everything literally and prefers to stick to the rigid routine his caregiver June set up. Cisco doesn't understand conversation littered with puns and colloquialisms. More diversity in the special needs community is shown by the other residents of the home too. Some like to laugh, one uses a wheelchair, and one only screams.

Author Josh Stallings shows how complicated this situation is. Even the gentle giant Madsen has to get physical in order to disarm the lead suspect who happens to be intellectually disabled. It makes Madsen lie as he continues to tell this poor man, Cisco, that his already faulty memories might not be right. Everything points to Cisco being the killer especially when the evidence of the bullet ballistics is conveniently tampered with so the bullets inside the victim can't be tied to the antique gun nor to the cops on the scene.

Madsen grows more sympathy for Cisco with each chapter; yet, he wonders if someone so evil, a gangster who has done time for murdering a small child, could convincingly be faking this intellectual disability in order to be outside of a prison. By the third act, Madsen finally feels some inner peace that Cisco is not pretending about his memory or his capabilities. Once social worker Adair comes into the picture, Cisco ends up with multiple people who will do anything to keep him on the lam during the investigation.

The key groups ratcheting up the tension are the LA Sheriffs Department, LAPD, Corrections, and Riverside Sheriffs not to mention there's always internal affairs lurking in the background. The real history of gangs/posses within law enforcement may surprise some readers. It's more than what you'd see in a mob movie of a cop taking a bribe "for protection" each week to look the other way. There were actual gangs who would rob places and then get to investigate their own crimes setting up people they felt deserved it.

Madsen goes through the biggest growth in story arc. Stallings allows the cowboy to open his heart to people who go through life differently. He's not shy about having a romantic life. He also knows that family is what you make it. Questions are answered in due time. What happened to Cisco that made him go from a derelict teenager to a gangster in adult prison to a disabled kind-hearted human being who couldn't anyone?

[Jamie Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am such a fan of Josh Stallings. He's a brilliant writer and TRICKY is something different in the crime genre. More heart with no loss of grit and tension.

I love this book.

[Paula Lyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a novel to explain why we should defund the police, this could definitely be the book. Every single bad guy is an officer of the law. Now I don't find that offensive but I imagine that some people might. My biggest problem was the protagonist being absolutely irresistible to every woman in the book while being so un"woke" that he still uses the word retarded, which I do find offensive. It wasn't until The Mandalorian appeared that I resigned myself to this being set now, rather than in some strange version of the '50s. It's not a bad book, it just feels very dated.

I received an eARC through NetGalley.

[Jake · Rating 4 out of 5]

The cop angle is familiar and needlessly cliched but I loved Stallings' take on neurodiversity and the challenges of communicating with someone who is intellectually disabled. He makes it clear that the challenge is not with Cisco, who feels like a fully realized character, but with others. Pack that into an LA crime tale (with some historical notes on east LA) and it works very well.

[Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is hard to describe, so I won't. It was over too soon, and I hope, Mr. Stallings, that this is a start of a series. Although I suppose once you've achieved perfection, as near as anyone can come to it, you should stop.

Thank you and thank Dylan for a Thumping Good Read

[Tj · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting premise and great main character. But the plot spun it's wheels for a bit, and then sort of devolved into a cliche good versus bad guy ending.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. So glad it was recommended to me by a staff member at Book People. The characters and story line were different and really held my interest.

[Melise · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. I am a Southern California native living near Pasadena, just to the northeast of Los Angeles. There are plenty of detective novels set in LA, but most of them focus on conventionally attractive people who live in the center of the city, Hollywood or the Westside. And very few of them are filled with people who seem like they are real.

This book completely subverts that paradigm. The story is set in lesser known areas of the city (and is very accurate with its descriptions), and the characters are not the stereotypical LA folks. I really enjoyed both of these elements, and on top of that, I enjoyed the mystery as well. All together this one is win!

Thanks to Agora Books for providing me with an advanced reading copy via NetGalley.

[Nathalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. Full review coming.

[Collin Henderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on the “detective in over his head story” involving madsen, a straight shooting cowboy type who just wants to do his job and do it well dealing with a situation that can charitably he described as tricky: a former gang banger is found at a murder scene with a gun in his hand standing over the body of a man with Down’s syndrome. It seems like a clear cut case of murder but when madsen actually talks to the gang banger he founds out that the man is on the autism spectrum due to a violent incident from his past and has seemingly changed his ways. His higher ups put the pressure on him since it’s a seemingly open and shut case but he isn’t so sure that Cisco, the former gang banger, is capable of murder these days.

There are a lot of familiar elements and more than a few cliches, such as how women find madsen irresistibly handsome but he never takes advantage of that, as well as other elements, but the unique twist comes from the central question of whether or not Cisco is putting on an act. There’s lots of investigations and twists in the plot, some predictable and some not, but to me it seems like Stallings was successful in portraying neuro divergent people in a human way. I’m not a member of that community so I can’t say for sure but he doesn’t punch down so to speak.

I will say that in hindsight some scenes felt unnecessary, and the final answer to what’s going on feels a bit predictable, but still prescient given how it recontextualizes all of the events. It’s ultimately a simple answer and, if you’re familiar with the history of the LAPD it probably won’t surprise you. There are just a couple of scenes where characters are talking about plot events without too much progression. It’s a short book so these scenes don’t last super long, but still.

Lastly, I will say that my copy of the book had a lot of typos. I’m not totally sure if I somehow got an ARC copy that hadn’t been edited by accident, or if it did release with them, but it’s worth noting that they can be distracting. It seems to be a fairly independent release, and I’m generally very forgiving of typos, but there are pages with multiple grammar errors and even tense shifts, sometimes multiple times per page. Again, it’s possible I somehow got my hands on a version that wasn’t the final release, but it’s something people who are reading it should know going into it. Not a deal breaker for me as I still enjoyed the central mystery and plot.

[Mark Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

The word “tricky” covers lots of ground as the novel Tricky gets rolling, including the situation that detective Niels Madsen finds as he rolls up on a bus stop where two LAPD officers are trying to get a man to relinquish a gun.

The man is in his mid-forties. Latino. Scars, prison tats. “All his street bad-assery was juxtaposed by a He-Man cartoon t-shirt and Lakers sweatpants.” To Madsen, the suspect doesn’t look angry. He looks “confused.” There’s a bloody body next to him on the bus stop bench.

Madsen’s fellow cops have their weapons drawn. They see the suspect as sub-human. It’s one of those hair-trigger cop-versus-citizen moments that could go either way. Badged against unbadged. Authority against ordinary. Power lording itself. The two cops, in fact, have summoned SWAT.

Madsen presses the de-fuse button. He starts telling the suspect that he skipped his Shredded Wheat breakfast. The man with the gun asks Madsen, given his Stetson hat and western-cut suit, if he’s a cowboy. Madsen confesses to owning a horse.

Tricky, it turns out, also describes the predicament that Madsen finds himself in as the novel unfolds. The man with the gun in the bus stop is Francisco Gutierrez, a.k.a. Cisco. It might be easy to assume that “man A shot man B” and that Cisco is responsible for the death of his friend and group home roommate David, who has Down syndrome. Madsen isn’t so sure. But he also can’t be sure that Cisco isn’t punking him with an act. Cisco’s is intellectually disabled.

But.

But that doesn’t jibe with Cisco’s record, including years in prison, as a “pure thug.” Has he changed? Is Cisco capable of duping Madsen? Well, Cisco also wonders if Madsen’s a straight-shooter and quickly slaps him with a nickname.

Tricky.

In Josh Stalling’s layered and nuanced Tricky, we are just beginning with the entanglements for Niels Madsen including a new partner and a full barrage of bureaucratic battering as he tries to get closer to Cisco to understand the true nature of his ostensible prime suspect and simultaneously figure out what might have happened at the bus stop.

Detective Madsen is prone to seeing all individuals as human (what a concept) but he’s no squeaky-clean cop wearing Ted Lasso glasses. “Madsen knew the world was much more complex than good guys versus bad guys. Humans were driven by an infinite number of needs and desires. They did horrible things for good reasons and acts of generosity for purely evil reasons. It was his job to discover who did what and leave the judgment to the courts.”

The search for answers about Cisco takes us to Tujunga and San Marino, but mostly sticks close to northeast LA: Highland Park, Montecito Heights, and Eagle Rock as well as East Los Angeles, City Terrace and downtown LA itself. Stallings can paint a scene in a few quick strokes, often with a colorful sense of humor.

“A block away from headquarters, the real downtown LA showed its face in all its multi-cultural multi-socioeconomic blended wonder. A drunk collapsed on the curb mumbled to a mannequin’s head, while in a parking lot behind him bankers and stockbrokers bought carnitas and kimchi tacos from a transgender woman in a tube top and short shorts.”

Later, in Simi Valley:

“Wasson lived in an older planned community, five suburban blocks of look-a-like single story ranch style homes. If Madsen didn’t know the local history it would be easy to find it pleasant and safe looking, and he guessed that was true, as long as your skin was pale and your politics slightly right of Sean Hannity.”

Madsen knows his L.A. history, sees the economic and power shifting right under his feet. His interest history applies to the people he meets and his own existential question, how did I get here? Madsen takes questions to the top of a notorious gang, follows the provenance of Cisco’s gun. Madsen brings perspective to his travels, but his approach is medium-boiled. Tricky is neo-noir. Madsen “believed in cowboy karma: if you acted with honor good things came your way, except for when they didn’t, and that’s when you had to put your head down and keep pushing on.” As much as anything else, Madsen puts his faith in “chaos and serendipity.”

Stallings isn’t afraid to give the plot a chance to breathe. He lets Madsen take Cisco out to a rural setting in the San Fernando Valley where he lives with his grandfather, Hem.

Court conservator Adair Hettrick, a red-haired, Scottish-born woman ten years’ younger than Madsen, accompanies them on the trip. Hem is an entertaining handful and the tantalizing word dance between Adair and Madsen are some of the best pages, and character building, in the book. (Stallings knows a thing or two about suspense.) The developing relationship between Madsen and Cisco is equally three-dimensional, non-cliché.

Madsen is a lone cowboy—his parents died (in unspecified fashion) when he was six along with his grandmother, Hem’s wife. None of this is overplayed or overmilked for the trauma-fueled character. No. Like a lot of things in life, it just is. Serendipity and chaos.

The wrap-up, as the kids say, is a banger. Madsen’s investigation stirs a mean hornet’s nest, wrestles with the consequences of doing so, and keeps us in suspense about Cisco’s game as the pages dwindle. One of the many beauties of Tricky is that, at any point, Madsen could point the finger at Cisco, send him off to jail, and move on to the next case. Given Cisco’s past and the situation Madsen and the other cops observed at the bus stop, it would be a slam dunk conviction. The world would shrug and say, too bad.

Niels Madsen believes that “all people were innocent until proven guilty and that everyone was guilty of something. Most lied as easy as breathing.”

But he also knows his job is to get the right people behind bars for the right crimes. Madsen soldiers on, scooping up those little details that will make the difference. Because, you know, it’s tricky.

[Devona Maillard]

A Love Story

The author treats his characters with love and respect. His honesty about the LAPD, the good and the bad, his respect for humanity in all of its crazy diversity, his sense of justice, and his knowledge of and love for Los Angeles make this a compelling story. It's not just your average, formulaic crime novel. It is a story of redemption and growth. In betting you will love it. I did.

[Margie Bunting]

LAPD homicide detective Niels Madsen happens to witness a standoff at a bus stop between another cop and a man holding a gun, with another man lying dead. He intervenes to keep the cop from shooting the suspect because he senses there is more to the situation than meets the eye. For one thing, the victim has Down's syndrome. For another, the alleged shooter also may be mentally challenged.

I picked this one up because of blogger Lesa Holstine's strong recommendation, and I wasn't disappointed. Madsen is an interesting protagonist (I hope this is the first in a series)--fearless, unorthodox, somewhat of a loose cannon. But he has a good heart, even when he (often) finds it difficult to follow his heart while faced with stiff opposition from others, including the police. The character of the "shooter" is also one in a million--no spoilers here. I loved it.

[Ed Mckeon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stallings mines the divisiveness between the LAPD and the LA County Sheriff department by creating a noble renegade in Niels Madsen. By the name, you might not guess he's a stetson-wearing detective with a Muslim partner who work to clear an intellectually-challenged suspect who was a former gang hitman, but suffered brain damage in a prison beatdown. And there we have it. Unreliable suspect and witness to a murder of another intellectually-challenged group home resident who is a scion of a bigot and billionaire. Lots of bad folks, and a few good ones looking out righteously for those who can't help themselves. Recommended.

[Gary L. Carter · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you read a Josh Stallings novel there are not enough superlatives!

I have been eagerly awaiting this novel since reading his Moses McGuire series and his other novel and with Tricky he does it again. A superb plot that keeps you guessing to the end. His characters are drawn so finely that you feel as if you are following them step by step. The banter is realistic with a great mix of sarcasm, humor and human emotions. This book will draw you but more important it will touch your heart.

[Jeannette A. Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging read

I almost stopped mid point on this story because it does have a lot of violence in it. I finished the story because it also has a lot of kindness and integrity and I loved the characters so much that I had to see how everyone fared. This is a story about redemption and our justice scales. Justice is about accountability but what happens when justice is perverted by corruption and creates evil out of innocence?

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

*An officer of the LAPD held a gun on an intellectually disabled man.*
That is the incident that formed both the basis and the need for this novel.
Author Josh Stallings (in real life) is the grandson of a former Chief of Corrections officer for the LA Sheriff's Department, and is also the father of Dylan, an intellectually disabled man.
Stallings has written an adrenalin packed thriller with a more than tear-inducing dose of compassion and understanding. Eye-opening and heart-touching...

[Erika · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just could not get into this book it was so slow, and the plot was just boring. I wasn't interested at all. I need a book to start out with some sort of punch or a catch and it never came. I want to thank NetGalley for giving me a copy of this book to read.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mediocre novel about a person with down's syndrome getting killed and his disabled friend being the primary suspect. It is all premised on there being no body cam, cruiser cam, or cell phone video of the murder. No real suspense.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this murder mystery and will look forward to more books by Josh Stallings. Having grown up in the middle west, I've always been fascinated by Los Angeles, so I especially enjoyed the Western/LA flavor that was very much a part of the story

[Wendy Lovatt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Story ok, kept me interested, but needs a lot of editing: so many spelling mistakes and one character’s name kept changing. Also, at times I wasn’t sure who was talking.
If that is a real representation of LA law enforcement, I would hate to live there!

[Peg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got my attention and kept it. Though the publishers proof readers need to improve. Several errors were overlooked.

[Andrea]

On a rating hiatus