Kane Kulpa learned which laws could be bent and which broken after a short stint in prison courtesy of Detective Vincent Bayonne. Bound by time, integrity, and the reality of life in Central City, Bayonne and Kane made peace with the past. Now, gang tension spirals from corrupt to deadly, and a series of murders stresses Kane and Bayonne’s uneasy alliance. Kane balances on a razor’s edge to protect his bar, power, life, and family, and Bayonne hustles to keep another lonely man from being strangled.
Central City is a city struggling for identity. The cops protect the rackets, and the criminals shelter the injured. Innocence is only an appearance, and rage finds a voice
Blackthorn Books Tours sent me this book in exchange for an honest review.
My Thoughts
The first thought that crossed my mind while delving into the world of Central City is that it would have been a rockin’ tv movie or mini series.
The story was mainly dialogue-driven but the characters’ voices so clear and distinct, they leapt off the page. I kept wondering how actors would have delivered each witty and gritty line; how the scenes in the book would have translated in television.
Being my first time reading a crime novel I was expecting more vivid descriptions, bloody crime scenes and inner monologues of distraught detectives but, again surprisingly, the lack of description suit the style of the novel perfectly. In fact, if the pages were graced with inner monologues and dramatic descriptions it would have possibly tainted the fast-paced, mysterious tone the plot had adopted.
That, to an extend, was because the combination of little-to-no description and continuous dialogue created the feel of a script rather than a book. However, I will not lie and say that I was mad at it. The back and forth between characters felt very natural and I was surprised to quickly find myself invested in their stories (Adam Mckenna will forever be Jonah Hill in my head), flying through the book in half a day.
The story begun with two different crimes set years apart and a whole lot of questions. The first few chapters were probably the most confusing where keeping track of dozens of new character introductions proved a difficulty than a pleasurable mind-game; but, as the story progressed, it fell into a smooth story-line filled with mystery, murder, people trying to escape dark pasts and a small town where residents’ lives were more entangled than those in soap operas. It was highly entertaining.
If you are looking for a plot-driven, fast-paced suspense-crime novel and you do not take your murder tales with a side of lush descriptions and characters lost in their thoughts, then look no further than Central City. It is a dark tale that dives straight into action and involves everything from mystery to drugs, long lost families, mafia-esque dudes and even a few deep friendships.
Marking Da Page 