David Cray - Little Girl Blue (2001)
The small, nude body of a young girl is found one wintry night in New York City's Central Park. Her feet are cut and bloody and she is curled in a fetal position. It looks as if she ran as far as she could before collapsing in exhaustion, finally giving in to the bitter cold. Any cop would be troubled by Little Girl Blue, but Lieutenant Julia Brennan is moved as a mother, as well as an enforcer of the law. She has a young daughter of her own and cannot escape from the haunting image that pierces her mind.
Brennan is an officer on the rise. The commander of Manhattan North Homicide's C Squad, she is in a position to do something about Little Girl Blue. She instructs the detectives under her supervision to pound the pavement searching for answers. Brennan also strikes up an uneasy alliance with Peter Foley, an officer working undercover with the Sex Crimes Unit. Foley lost his own daughter a few years before to a predator and he is probably closer than he should be to the dark world he patrols.
The subtitle of Little Girl Blue is "a novel of crime," a very apt description. At the heart of this suspenseful, at times painful book are the most despicable of crimes, those committed against children. Lieutenant Brennan uncovers a child pornography and prostitution ring that lies hidden in the upper reaches of Manhattan society, sheltered for years by the wealth of those who participate in it. As soon as Brennan gets the scent of these perverted criminals, though, their days are at an end.
Although it features troubling subject matter, Little Girl Blue is written with such empathy and tactful restraint that it never strays into offense, something authors who have tackled similar stories have failed to do. It is appropriately tense, especially during the last twenty pages, but the mystery here tacks a backseat to the characters. The author explores his characters as people who think and feel in realistic ways, not as the cookie cutter puppets lesser writers use to populate their stories.
"David Cray" is the pseudonym of "a well-known New York mystery writer," the identity of whom is unknown to me. [Ed. note: I actually know who he is now.] I get the feeling, however, that Cray is actually a woman. Little Girl Blue is written with such insight into the character of Julia Brennan, especially her feelings as a mother. If indeed David is a man, his success is all the more notable.
Posted by David J. Montgomery in Book Reviews | Permalink
Comments
I would like to know who David Cray is also.
Posted by: Patricia Saemmer | Nov 9, 2006 11:36:30 AM
