Frank Behr
Created by David Levien

Talk about your auspicious debuts.

Obstensibly a private eye procedural, author David Levien's City of the Sun (2008) follows aging former Indianapolis cop FRANK BEHR as he tries to track down twelve-year old Jamie Gabriel who's been missing for over a year, but what this book really is really a raw, painful study on grief and loss.

And Jamie's parents, Paul and Carol Gabriel, aren't the only ones hurting here -- Frank himself is still haunted by the loss of his own young son in a tragic accident.

It's not an easy read, either emotionally or narratively. The book is actually a relentless series of short, pointed jabs; brief, chronological snapshots of lives in freefall, and yet, despite the occasional plot leap (or logic gap) author Levien has given us one of the most searing and haunting books to cross this genre in a while; a wide-ranging romp that may take us from a sleepy Indianapolis bedroom town to a grungy Mexican outpost, but never strays far from ground zero of the human heart.

Fans of Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer or Declan Hughes' Ed Loy would do well to check this one out. And even more encouraging -- it's supposed to be the start of a new series.

UNDER OATH

• “One of the toughest, most gut-wrenching, and most believable suspense novels I’ve ever encountered. If David Levien pulled any punches, I was too dazed to notice.”
  – Lincoln Child
  
  
• "...as unbearably real as it gets."
  – The New York Times Book Review.

NOVELS

• City of the Sun (2008)....Buy this book

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.