First published 1993
Rocco Klein works homicide in a city where drug murders happen every warm night. He's burned out, ready to coast until retirement. Then a young black man walks into the station and confesses to killing a dealer. The confession feels wrong to Rocco. The kid has no criminal record, no history of violence. His half-brother Strike runs cocaine crews in the nearby projects. Strike commands the street-corner dealers they call clockers. Rocco digs deeper into the case. He becomes convinced Strike pulled the trigger and let his clean brother take the fall. The investigation pulls Rocco back from the edge of giving up. He wants this case more than he's wanted anything in years. The two men circle each other through the projects and police stations. One brother tries to protect the other while Rocco hunts for the truth that will destroy them both.
Genres: fiction, mystery, crime, thriller
Vibes: dark, emotional, fast-paced, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, investigation, moral-ambiguity
Setting: Projects, United States
Period: 20th Century
655 pages · Mass Market Paperback · Orion Paperbacks
Content warnings: drug-use, violence