A bleak, ultra-violent crime noir filled with criminals, femme fatales, corrupted innocents, and an antihero trying to solve a murder mystery to pay off a crime boss. Well written with evocative art. ( )

Another great entry in the series; violent, desperate, heartbreaking ( )

[Yeah, spoilers. Boilerplate, polite version: I promise that I don't "spoil" anything about this book that would have bothered me had I known about it in advance of reading this book. That said, I cannot think of anything I have ever read in my life that would have been spoiled had I known the plot-advancing facts. This is definitely not a Cliffs Notes–style detailed summary of the story. I have no interest in writing such a thing.]

This is the first book in this series of hardboiled graphic novels that I didn't love, perhaps because it's the first to return to a character who has already had his share of time on the page.

Most likely, though, it has to do with a sense of far too much coincidence -- too many instances when people happen to be in the right place at the right time (or wrong, depending on your point of view) in order for the story to proceed. And the subplot, about a couple of dirty priests, one of them playing vigilante with a crew of teen henchboys, just doesn't have the fatalistic perfume of the earlier stories. Still, it's a pretty compelling read.

Tracy Lawless is a killer, but only of those who deserve it. This is a slippery place to be, and Tracy doesn't exactly finesse it. He's having an affair with the boss's wife, can't figure out who is killing the boss's peers, and has a guy from his past on his tail trying to drag him back where he came from. Things don't end pretty, but there's a lot to satisfy in this story. I don't think we'll be seeing Tracy again, at least for a while. ( )