Fall Guy [Hardcover]

Scott Mackay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 11, 2001

Detectives Barry Gilbert and Joe Lombardo return after their highly praised debut, COLD COMFORT. This time the two are plunged into Toronto's Chinatown district where they are called to investigate the death of Edgar Lau, a man whose history and connections take the detectives on a ride across continents and cultures, deep into the story of one family's struggle to survive against terrible odds.
In a story that twists and turns towards its devastating conclusion, the detectives must piece together Edgar's scattered history, from his days as a Vietnamese refugee who, as a young boy, made a deadly trek to China by boat, to his affair with a prominent member of Toronto's city government, and his connections to a Chinese drug baron. Throughout their investigation more and more questions are raised, questions to which somebody in the Toronto police department doesn't want them to find the answers. It soon becomes clear to Lombardo and Gilbert that in addition to hunting down Edgar's killer, they must fight the system that allowed it to happen-a battle that could shake the department to its very core. A tale of murder and corruption, family and betrayal in a society hidden and protected from the public eye, this is a riveting police procedural by a masterful young author.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Homicide detectives Barry Gilbert and his able young partner, Joe Lombardo, assigned to a murder in Toronto's Chinatown, quickly find themselves ensnared in a tangle of Canadian-Asian gangs, international drug operations, local politics, corrupt cops, and such familiar pan-ethnic vices as adultery, greed and twisted uses of power in this disappointing sequel to 1998's Cold Comfort from Canadian author Mackay. The dynamic cover, a nighttime Chinatown street scene, is jazzy, colorful and intense. In that regard it outdoes the plot, which, like the investigation itself, trudges along in muddled fashion. One step forward, one step back, and one step sideways may well represent how police investigations actually unfold, but most readers of modern police procedurals will wish for a tighter, if less realistic, story line. Lacking as well is any real sense of place or culture. Except for a brief sojourn in Hong Kong, which is beautifully rendered, the action could have occurred in any modern city; except for their surnames, the Asians could just as easily be plain-vanilla bad guys. The author attempts to ratchet up the mystery by working in multiple suspects, but his plan is undercut by a title that gives away the punch line. Since it's clear from the get-go that there's going to be a fall guy, the only real question is, who is he? The one to whom the bulk of the evidence points, of course; once that evidence is accumulated (and, in Mackay's curious style, endlessly replayed in Gilbert's mind), little mystery remains.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The author's second mystery (it follows Cold Comfort, nominated for a 1999 Arthur Ellis Award) is another interesting, if sometimes distracting, story featuring Toronto police detectives Barry Gilbert and Joe Lombardo. A clever procedural about a murdered man with an enigmatic past, it takes the detectives deep into Toronto's Chinatown, where they encounter a deeply secret society riddled with corruption and betrayal. Mackay does atmosphere and setting well, and his characters are full-bodied and believable. Unfortunately, he suffers from a stylistic tick--lengthy, entangled, repetitive sentences--that will prove merely distracting to some but unbearable to others. Still, Mackay is a skillful storyteller, and this has the makings of a good series if only the narrative can avoid being strangled by its own sentences. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (September 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312281552
• ISBN-13: 978-0312281557
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,851,143 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read, August 23, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Fall Guy (Hardcover)

In Toronto's Chinatown, homicide detectives Barry Gilbert and Joe Lombardo search the apartment of murdered Edgar Lau for clues. The obvious evidence beyond the photographer's corpse is that no forced entry most likely means Edgar knew his killer and felt safe enough to allow he or she into the apartment. The cops also find an ammo clip with no gun and 3.5 million worth of heroine. Photographs of City Councilor Roslyn Surrey in sexy poses spice up the investigation. Outside, a glove is found hanging from a tree in the yard. Finally a witness saw Pearl Wu leave the scene of the crime.

The coroner adds to the complexity of the evidence when he reports that Edgar suffered an unreported bullet wound that, based on its healing, is three to four months old. The coroner also finds inside the victim's intestines a balloon containing a key. With all this evidence the case should be a snap for the two veteran police officers, but instead each clue opens up a gamut of new questions in this increasingly complicated case.

The FALL GUY is no six million-dollar man, but instead a tremendous Canadian police procedural that never slows down as the detectives track clues that seems to go everywhere and nowhere. The story line is superb as twists, turns, and new evidence keep occurring with no end in sight. The two detectives are a warm pair who feels like neighbors and the evidence indicates the lifestyle of the victim. Sub-genre fans will feel warm comfort knowing that talented Scott MacKay provides strong novels for reading pleasure.

Harriet Klausner