Bloody thriller set along the Boston waterfront

28th September 2019

Blood In The Water by Jack Flynn, a bloody thriller set along the Boston waterfront.

Blood in the Water is a great read – a real adrenaline-pumping adventure. Cormack O’Connor is the Boston Harbour Chief – he, essentially, controls everything (legal or not) that happens in the harbour. He is not a man to be messed with. But T’phong Soh, a Malaysian member of the extremely violent M-13 drug running gang, is intent on messing. Soh wants to take over the harbour and its riches. He is in partnership with Suarez who has been sent by M-13 to keep an eye on him. But Suarez is turned. The two of them intend to set up their own rival organisation.

Cormack is having an illicit affair with Kit Steele. a Homeland security agent. Kit has recently arrested Vincente Carpio, brother of Javier Carpio who has just shown up in Boston. She is absolutely determined that Vincente will stay in a maximum security prison until he faces trial in the Boston Courthouse. He is a mass murderer who kills in a very nasty way. He, of course, is intent on planning his escape before he reaches his trial. He intends to be aided in this by his brother, and by Soh and Suarez.

Cormack has a daughter, Diamond, who is pregnant. The father is Buddy, one of Cormack’s loyal lieutenants. She is in grave danger from Soh who plans to kidnap her and use her as a hostage in his battle to take over from her father.

So, the battle lines are drawn. Cormack, Buddy – and Cormack’s loyal team against Soh, Suarez – and their men. There is much violence and bloodshed. Meanwhile Kit is determined to keep Vincente behind bars until his trial. Both themes inevitably overlap with Cormack and Kit sharing intelligence.

The finale of the book explodes in a massive battle along the Boston waterfront.

Blood in The Water is very well worked and intelligent thriller. The author, Jack Flynn, is a Boston lawyer who does much pro bono work on behalf of wrongly convicted individuals. He is clearly very familiar with both the criminal underworld of the city, and also with its ever changing geography on the waterfront as ‘gentrification’ kicks in and destroys much of the ‘charm’. Boston, like many cities, has developed (and is developing) very rapidly. The reader gets a good impression of what Boston was, and what it is becoming. A great TripFiction location-based book for your travels!

Highly recommended for those who thrive on a page-turning thriller. I found it hard to put down.

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