First published 1997
Ray Dunn, a young assistant district attorney and son of a corrupt police officer, catches a bizarre case on New Year's Day 1965. Father George Sedgewick lies dead on a snow-covered Logan Airport runway, murdered in cold blood. The killer took four thousand communion hosts blessed by the Pope himself, meant for America's first English-language mass. Across Boston, veteran narcotics detective Manny Manning hunts a different kind of predator. A lethal new strain of heroin floods the streets, and its mysterious supplier has started dealing something called "acid." Manning wants to climb the ladder all the way to the top this time, but his target proves both vicious and clever. The two investigations pull Dunn and Manning deeper into Boston's corrupt political machinery. Past sins surface as their cases converge, forcing both men to confront the institutional rot that defines their city.
Genres: historical-fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: atmospheric, gritty, suspenseful
Tropes: converging-investigations, institutional-rot
Setting: Boston, Logan Airport
Period: 1965
256 pages · Hardcover · W. W. Norton & Company
Content warnings: violence