Central City, by Indy Perro

Amazon Link: https://www.amazon.com/Central-City-Indy-Perro/dp/1952258006

Pages: 245

My rating:

Review by AA

This is actually a cool book!

Meet Bayonne – good cop, can listen to crime scenes and hear what they have to tell him – except this time the crime scene isn’t talking. Meet Kane Kulpa – good bad-guy, bit of a Mafioso but he looks after his patch and the people in it. Meet the seriously nasty gang leader who’s trying to move in. Meet the brothels and the gangs and the women caught in between. Meet a pretty nasty serial killer… except of course, nobody knows who the serial killer is. Meet the victims.
This isn’t my normal sort of book – I tend not to read police procedurals because I’m not too interested in the cops’ point of view. And I tend to read crime books with a lot more action – fights and car chases and edge of the seat peril. This book is different – bit slower, bit more of a mystery than a thriller. I read it because Blackthorn Book Tours offered me a copy in exchange for an honest review (thank you Blackthorn Book Tours) and I’m glad they did! Got me out of my rut and made me think a bit more.

I love the way this book looks at everyone with the same eyes, the same respect. I especially liked the way it dealt with the girls and women in the brothels and on the streets – they were real people, not just female bodies with lipstick, and it treated them with respect – people doing a dangerous job for difficult reasons. And I liked the way it dealt with the criminals and the relationship between them and the cops. It’s not as simple as a lot of books make it. I also liked the way it dealt with secrets. Everyone has secrets. Sometimes they even have secrets from themselves.

Kept thinking I’d guessed the ending, but I hadn’t. When I got there, a load of little details suddenly flooded back and I thought “doh! Why didn’t I get that?” I liked that. The clues were there but I didn’t pick them up. (Good thing I’m not a detective, I guess.)