Crime mystery set in New York

3rd January 2019

Too Far by Jason Starr, crime mystery set in New York.

I picked this novel to read on a long journey and it kept me reading right until the end. The hours flew by.

Hapless Jack (is he really hapless, though?) works on commission in real estate and he is desperate for a new sale. In walks old friend (friend is probably a misnomer) Rob McEvoy from way back who regales him with stories of the encounters he has had on Discreet Hookups. Cheating apparently saved Rob’s marriage. Jack isn’t in the least bit tempted, as he is married to Maria, although it turns out they are actually rather unhappy.

It couldn’t do any harm to take a peak at the site, surely? However as Jack is a recovering alcoholic, someone with an addictive personality, he is bound to get in deeper than he anticipates and he soon finds himself hooked up with Fugitive_Red (interestingly, red – the colour of love – is the pigment in a painting at the Met by Van Gogh. It is “fugitive”, in other words, it has lightened considerably and is now pink…. just like love bleaches over time). Their dialogue soon degenerates into discussing bondage and more and it is clear that this is not going to end well.

There is murder down the line and Jack ends up running for his life, hounded by the NYPD and in particular detective Barasco who has it in for Jack. He tries hard to stop the chain of events but he stumbles on as everything comes crashing down. Does the reader have sympathy? Maybe at first but then, as he really loses his moral compass, it is hard to avoid a bit of Schadenfreude, anticipating what might happen to him next. And yet…. the panic is palpable and one can kind of see why he responds as he does.

The novel is at times darkly humorous and it is well written. There is a neat and easy ending, but wait! There is more to come and the storyline switches tack several times before it draws to an end.

New York gets a good look in, so this is definitely a novel to get you in the mood for a visit to the city as you fly towards JFK! It will certainly keep you engrossed for the length of the journey.

Tina for the TripFiction Team

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