I begin this review with the cautious optimism that Wallace Stroby is beginning to receive the critical, and hopefully commercial, appreciation that he has deserved for so long. I have yet to encounter anyone who has read one of his books --- and I have personally shoved a few of them into the hands of many an initially reluctant reader --- who did not immediately seek the rest and devour each of them, one sitting at a time. KINGS OF MIDNIGHT is Stroby’s fifth work, the sequel to COLD SHOT TO THE HEART, and like its brothers (THE HEARTBREAK LOUNGE, THE BARBED-WIRE KISS and GONE ’TIL NOVEMBER), it’s a winner from first word to last.

"If Bruce Springsteen’s music is Jersey’s soundtrack, then KINGS OF MIDNIGHT and its predecessors are its ongoing screenplay. I can’t give a book any higher praise than that."

This latest novel opens within a short period after the conclusion of COLD SHOT TO THE HEART. Crissa Stone, Stroby’s cold but not “stone-cold” (a bit of irony there) career criminal, is back and at the helm of an ATM theft operation that, even under the most favorable scrutiny, involves stealing money the hard way. When the gig ends --- well for Crissa, badly for her partners --- she heads back to New Jersey with plans to launder her ill-gotten gain towards the prison release of her significant other. When an old acquaintance --- a man who she respects and owes --- offers her a job with the potential for a million-plus-dollar payoff, she is reluctant but finds it difficult to refuse.

A mob figure who was rumored to have stashed several millions of dollars from a decades-old heist has died; Benny Roth, who was tangentially involved, thinks he knows where the money is. Unfortunately, a hard-nosed enforcer with a proven capacity for detached and brutal violence believes Roth knows where the money is too, and will think nothing of trashing Roth (and anyone with him) to get at it.

Meanwhile, Crissa is not without her own problems. She has incurred the wrath of a local money launder with a shady reputation who is not happy with her. Crissa has a tragic flaw; she is reluctant to kill anyone unless she absolutely must. Thus, she permits adversaries who are inclined to do her harm to go on living when it’s in her best interest, at least in the short run, to take them off the board. It makes for an uneasy partnership with Roth, who is living a new and crime-free life yet is not above cashing in on the proceeds of his old one. Crissa quickly reaches the stage where she runs out of shoulders to look over. This leads to a tumultuous conclusion that is all but certain to lead to further problems down the road.

Like almost all of the people who populate Stroby’s novels, Crissa is a flawed but believable character whose traits stay with the reader long after the last paragraph is read. As always, however, it is New Jersey --- its backstreets and unmarked (or nearly so) buildings --- that remain his most enduring and memorable character. If Bruce Springsteen’s music is Jersey’s soundtrack, then KINGS OF MIDNIGHT and its predecessors are its ongoing screenplay. I can’t give a book any higher praise than that.