James Queally

With his journalistic career down the tubes, Russell Avery, trying to make a go as a PI takes on a cold case brought to him by a police detective who has come to realize he was responsible for an innocent man serving a life sentence. The man has been released from prison as he is dying of cancer but the detective has to see him exonerated before he dies even though it won't come close to rectifying all he lost. Russell must find out what really happened all those years ago when 4 young Newark teens went missing and had been murdered. Set in a Portuguese neighborhood of the city, this fast moving tale, has lots of gritty local flavor.… (más)

Topical Newark Noir
Review of the Agora Books hardcover edition (March 2020)

Sadly, this book about a fictional police shooting caught on video and the later suspicious death of the camera operator is too often paralleled by situations in the daily news, such as the current situation in Minneapolis, Minnesota (late May 2020 as I write this). Author Queally captures the views of gang life, community activism and the thin blue line of enforcement here in an effective manner which keeps you guessing as to the causes and effects of the resulting tragedy.

My rating is perhaps a bit reserved as I somehow didn't find the protagonist former reporter / current private investigator completely believable in his conflicting allegiances throughout. He is so "in" with the police department that former associates there help him shortcut his way to a PI license, meanwhile he is seemingly working against them with his former almost-fiancée and his ties to the activism community. But for a first novel some bumps are to be expected. Still a good first outing, and sadly constantly made to be topical too frequently these days.

Trivia and Links
Line of Sight is one of the initial titles from Agora Books, a new imprint of independent publisher Polis Books which will be "a diversity-focused imprint devoted to crime and noir fiction." Other initial releases from Agora Books are Three-Fifths(September 2019) by John Vercher, Remember(October 2019) by Patricia Smith, The Ninja Daughter (November 2019) by Tori Eldridge, Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (February 2020), Matthew Henson and the Ice Temple of Harlem by Gary Phillips (February 2020), and [Both Sides: Stories From the Border edited by Gabino Iglesias (April 2020). Watch for further releases from Agora Books at the Polis Books website.… (más)