by S. J. Rozan
First published 1997
Bill Smith straps on a hard hat and picks up a trowel when an old friend asks him to investigate theft at a forty-story construction project in Manhattan. Smith poses as a bricklayer on the Crowell Construction site, his skills rusty but adequate for the job. He focuses on a suspicious foreman while trying to figure out why a crane operator vanished along with expensive equipment. The case explodes when a carefully planned riot leads to the foreman's death, made to look like an accident. Smith digs deeper into a web of corruption that includes bribery and blackmail. His partner Lydia Chin joins the investigation as they trace connections between construction workers, missing machinery, and organized crime. The trail leads through layers of betrayal and greed that threaten to bury them both. Smith must navigate the dangerous world of crooked contractors and mob influence to find answers before more bodies pile up.
Genres: mystery, crime, thriller, action
Vibes: fast-paced, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: fish-out-of-water, investigation
Setting: Manhattan, New York
Period: contemporary
472 pages · Hardcover · Thorndike Pr
Content warnings: violence