November 21, 2016
Convincing smartass dialogue brings the Detroit denizens of poet and playwright Jones’s first novel to life. Police officer August Snow was fired from the force for whistle-blowing on the city’s mayor and a bunch of crooked cops. His wrongful dismissal suit got him $12 million. After traveling the world, he’s home in Detroit’s Mexicantown when he’s summoned to posh Grosse Pointe by Eleanor Paget, the head of a private wealth-management and investment bank, whose husband he once investigated for embezzlement and murder. She’s convinced someone’s trying to take over her empire and wants August’s help. When Eleanor turns up dead, a supposed suicide, the plot starts to go off the rails. In pursuit of justice, August and his buddies, armed with countless military weapons, take on hired assassins working for evildoers whose crimes against the bank include extortion, racketeering, and implausible cybercrimes. Strong prose and a hero with a distinctive multicultural background (August is half African-American, half Mexican) make up only in part for muddled storytelling. Agent: Stephany Evans, FinePrint Literary Management.
December 15, 2016
An ex-cop comes home to Detroit and finds himself embroiled in the investigation of a local business magnate's death. August Snow, whose name gives this volume its title, had been framed and drummed out of the force after uncovering corruption at the highest levels of the city. A successful suit for wrongful termination makes him a wealthy man, and he returns to his decaying neighborhood, Detroit's Mexicantown, where he grew up with his Mexican mother and African-American father. As a cop, August had uncovered embezzlement at the bank presided over by the much-despised businesswoman Eleanor Paget. When she dies, an apparent suicide, a day after asking him to work for her, his investigation into her death sets him up to tangle with all manner of local thugs and, possibly, international crooks who turn banks into their own private money-laundering operations. Let's get the flaws out of the way. The author, a poet, playwright, and first-time novelist, tends to overdo both the noir fatalism and the tough-guy stuff (especially when it comes to detailing Snow's arsenal). An important supporting character is made to pay for a past sin in a way that feels very judgmental. There's a shade too much cyberage paranoia. And the book climaxes with two--count 'em--sieges when one would do. But it's easy to overlook those flaws considering what this book gets right: a hugely likable hero who uses his wealth to bring his neighborhood back to life; a feel for the vitality and pride in run-down urban neighborhoods as good as George Pelecanos on Washington, D.C.; appealing supporting characters who give life to the book's theme of the solace to be found in communities. It adds up to a very pleasurable read. This mostly terrific debut holds out the promise that we are at the beginning of an excellent new series.
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December 15, 2016
Former Detroit PD officer August Snow just wants to enjoy his very early retirement. After termination for exposing police-department and city-government corruption, followed by a $12 million wrongful-dismissal-lawsuit payout, he wants to settle back in Mexicantown, fix up some houses, and help his less-well-off neighbors. But trouble can't stay away, and when he's asked by a wealthy matriarch in a decidedly different Detroit neighborhood to investigate shady goings-on in her family's bank, it takes all his police and army skills just to stay alive. This debut novel by poet and playwright Jones offers a welcome inside view of a city in turmoil and the viewpoint of a Mexican and African American protagonist who now finds himself among gentrifiers. While the writing sometimes veers into thriller cliche ( One second. One bullet. Two lives ), veterans and other readers who enjoy a story of military loyalty and old friends should try this, along with some Vince Flynn; where library shelves lack heroes of color, add Jones' work as well as Joe Ide's 2016 debut, IQ.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)