Bookreporter.com - FACES OF THE GONE by Brad Parks

FACES OF THE GONE
Brad Parks
Minotaur Books
Mystery
ISBN: 9780312574772

Truth be known, my favorite fiction is set in the urban section of mid-sized cities. Wallace Stroby’s stories of north and central Jersey and David Levien’s novels that take place in Indianapolis are what I reach for more often than not. But now I have just added FACES OF THE GONE, Brad Parks’s debut, to that expanding list.

FACES OF THE GONE is set in Newark, New Jersey, one of America’s more interesting, if not picturesque, cities. Parks, who describes himself as “an escaped journalist,” was a sportswriter and news feature writer for the Newark Star-Ledger, and his “warts-and-all” descriptions of the city are right on the mark, down to the transitions that Newark goes through on its daily journey into night. Indeed, the impetus behind the novel --- a quadruple, execution-style murder in a vacant lot --- is based on a real-world occurrence that Parks himself investigated. And Carter Ross, the investigative reporter who narrates most of the book, may well be Parks’s alter ego.

Driven by compassion for the victims, Ross begins a steadfast investigation into the murders of four people who seemingly had nothing in common other than their brutal ending. The police are quick to wrap up the murders as rough justice for a prior robbery of a local tavern, with the murder victims in the role as the unfortunate and unwise robbers. Ross is not so sure. What he finds is that the victims, all from different parts of the city, had been low-level drug dealers or, in the parlance, “hustlers,” selling just enough to eke out a primitive lifestyle but little else. Ross goes far on a combination of instinct, an arrogant self-assurance (which is part bluff), and, yes, some actual sincerity that gains him access to parts of the city that a white, buttoned-down male would not otherwise have.

The result is an explosive article in which Ross unwittingly exposes a drug king known as “The Director,” whose heroin is legendary for its purity. The murders of the four hustlers were intended as a warning for those in the know on the streets of Newark, but Ross’s article now threatens to expose his entire operation. This puts him in mortal danger from which he has almost no hope of escaping, forcing him to rely on the assistance of some unlikely --- and colorful --- allies. The result is a cat-and-mouse pursuit that carries on practically to the conclusion of FACES OF THE GONE, a book that will keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end.

Parks is a hoot, combining equal parts humor and action with strong characterization on all levels, particularly with respect to his street-level characters, whose despair and poor choices ring all too true. FACES OF THE GONE is the first of a projected series set in Newark, and those who like their stories gritty but cut with humor will cheer this one and clamor for more.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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