CITY OF THE SUN
David Levien
Doubleday
Thriller
ISBN: 9780385523660

CITY OF THE SUN is a fantastic work of fiction. You realize this within the first few sentences, the ones that sink hooks into your brain with every letter. These letters coalesce into words, sentences and paragraphs, and before you know it, the night is gone and the book is done. You’re still on the edge of your seat, and your eyes are bleary (maybe a little wet, too).

Though this is not David Levien’s first novel, he has been known primarily as a screenwriter. You may have seen his work on the film Ocean’s 13, the television show “Tilt” and a number of other successful projects. None of what has gone before, however, will prepare you for this stark tale of good versus evil in its most basic form.

What Levien does is create a perfect modern noir tale around Frank Behr, a damaged, quietly bent ex-cop turned private detective whose people skills are somewhat lacking but whose strength and courage seem inexhaustible. Behr is based in Indianapolis, hardly a city one thinks of as being a hotbed of danger. But Levien transforms it into a fearsome locale within a few pages, with one simple yet horrific act: the disappearance of 12-year-old Jamie Gabriel while he is on his early morning paper route. The author gives the reader just enough to know that Jamie is in a very bad, if unknown, place. Unfortunately his parents, Paul and Carol, don’t even possess that much knowledge.

With no trace of Jamie more than a year after his abduction, and a lackluster police investigation, the Gabriels turn to Behr, who reluctantly agrees to take the case. Still, he informs them that they must work from the assumption that their son is dead. His investigative technique is plodding, even boring, and as realistic as it gets: he waits, makes wrong turns and right moves, good guesses and bad mistakes.

One thing leads to another. Behr begins with a simple yet ingenious question, pursues it to the end, and then begins again. And again. His technique involves much more than kicking over rocks; he is slower, more deliberate and thoughtful. Since he knows in his own heart what happened to Jamie, there is no need to rush. His technique with the unwilling, on the other hand, is worth the price of admission all by itself. Behr also breaks his own immutable rule and allows Paul to join him in the investigation, an act that permits the men to form a solid if initially uneasy bond as they slowly but doggedly follow a long and deadly trail that leads to the answer regarding Jamie’s fate.

CITY OF THE SUN is one of those novels that will keep you up for several nights running. You will read it the first night and then spend a few more thinking. I can’t wait for Levien’s next project!

    --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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