Final Atonement: A Doug Orlando Mystery [Paperback]

Steve Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Doug Orlando | Publication Date: December 1, 1992

Homosexual police detective Doug Orlando must take on the hardest case of his career when Rabbi Avraham Rabowitz, a right wing religious sect leader and an open enemy of blacks, Latinos, women, and gays, is murdered.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rabbi Avraham Rabowitz, outspoken opponent of blacks, Hispanics, gays and even other members of his own sect, was a rotten pillar of Brooklyn's Hasidic community. His sudden death--he is found in a pool of blood, clean shaven, with a prayer shawl stuffed down his throat--poses two mysteries: Who killed him, and what took them so long? For Doug Orlando, a gay homicide squad veteran, the task is not just to bring Rabowitz's killer to justice but to solve the case before the city's ethnic fabric is torn to shreds. Lack of cooperation from various ethnic factions in the neighborhood obstructs the investigation. Compounding Orlando's difficulties is his former partner, Briggs, who is eager to discredit him for cooperating with an investigation into his killing of an unarmed black teenager. Newcomer Johnson has crafted a literate murder mystery that expands the genre to include deft commentary on the changing face of urban centers. Additionally, the domestic scenes between Orlando and his lover of 12 years, Stewart, provide a sensitive and often humorous contrast to the dangers and frustrations of police work.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Steve Neil Johnson is a novelist and screenwriter who has written 25 scripts for television and is the author of the Doug Orlando mysteries, FINAL ATONEMENT (Lambda Literary Award nominee) and FALSE CONFESSIONS. His other books include the thriller THIS ENDLESS NIGHT, the young adult novel RAISING KANE, and the middle-grade book EVERYBODY HATES EDGAR ALLAN POE! He was honored by The ONE Institute/The International Gay and Lesbian Archives for his contributions to gay literature. He is currently working on a four-part crime saga, The L.A. AFTER MIDNIGHT Quartet. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Onyx; 1st Printing, December 1992 edition (December 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451403320
• ISBN-13: 978-0451403322
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,955,570 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Authentic New York Dectective Story, September 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Final Atonement: A Doug Orlando Mystery (Paperback)

All mysteries with gay characters should be this "real". The book's central character, Doug Orlando, struggles with integrating his life as a gay man and a dectective while solving a crime that seems taken from a New York Post headline. The book is fascinating for anyone who has an interest New York City as the situations and characters are written with an affection for the city as well as a clear-eye for the foibles of New Yorkers. Outside New York, the truth, honesty, and excitement of the story will hold readers wherever they live. Quality mysteries don't come around very often. Well written mysteries with a central character who is gay are rare indeed. Both of the Doug Orlando stories will be a wecome addition to any mystery reader's collection.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great series, September 19, 2011

By 

J. Rosen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Final Atonement: A Doug Orlando Mystery (Paperback)

Nobody does a better job of capturing the tensions between various minority groups in Brooklyn than Steve Neil Johnson in the Doug Orlando Mysteries, FINAL ATONEMENT and FALSE CONFESSIONS. Yet he expresses so much compassion for the characters and such a love for the neighborhoods that you feel like you've lived there your whole life and fought their battles with them. Doug Orlando, a Brooklyn Homicide cop, is a compelling and haunting character: ostracized by his fellow cops for testifying against his brutish former patrol-car partner, Briggs, in a grand jury probe, his life in danger as much from other cops as criminals. The heart of the story, though, is the relationship between Orlando and his partner of many years, Stewart, which is troubled but filled with love and humor. The plot itself is ripped-from-the-headlines: when a politically active right-wing rabbi is murdered in a bizarre manner in the city's Hasidic stronghold, Williamsburg, Orlando must track down the killer before hostilities between minority groups in the overcrowded city explode. The neighborhoods are so vividly described, you feel like you could taste them. Astute political commentary and memorable characters that stay with you long after you've finished the book make these novels special. Johnson's style is so sharp it cuts like a knife, and both books move at a rapid-fire pace that keeps you turning the pages. I highly recommend this captivating book.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Bittersweet Debut, August 15, 2010

By 

Contradiction - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Final Atonement: A Doug Orlando Mystery (Paperback)

An excellent first effort from Steve Johnson that centers around a comfortably gay police detective with normal colleague and relationship problems -- not to mention a nice twisted mystery that touches upon an powerkeg combination of race, religion and sex. Can't wait to read the second outing of detective Doug Orlando but my eagerness is tempered with the knowledge that only two entries exist in the series. I feel lucky I stumbled upon these out of print books.