Customer Reviews

The Fourth Victim

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Joe "the Snake" Serpe is a former supercop, a disgraced NYPD narcotics detective forced to leave the job in disgrace. Now off the job for 7 years, he has formed an unlikely partnership with Bob Healy, himself formerly IAB and in fact the cop who pursued the case against Serpe years ago; as unbelievable it still is to the two men themselves, the once bitter enemies are now friends and partners in a home oil delivery business in the suburbs of New York City.

The bodies of five men have been discovered within a short space of time. They had many things in common: "They were all C.O.D. oil drivers who had been assaulted making night-time deliveries in high crime areas. They all had at least two thousand dollars in cash on their persons. They were all shot with the same 9mm weapon. They were all dead." A serial killer is suspected. What brings these crimes to the attention of Serpe and Healy is the identity of the eponymous fourth victim, another disgraced former cop named Rusty Monaco, a man who had apparently been just about to finalize the purchase of a Florida condo. More importantly, he had once saved Serpe's life when they were both still cops. Serpe feels he owes Monaco, and Healy feels he owes Serpe, thereby giving rise to their investigation into Monaco's murder and, by extension, those of the other four men as well. That investigation appears to hinge on a cold case, a murder which took place shortly after September 11, 2001, when the police department's attention was understandably focused on other matters.

The ensuing tale is one of "greed, blackmail, corruption, vengeance, racism, fear, and what righteous men do in the face of a world gone wrong" [to quote from the back of the book, on which description I cannot improve]. It is told in absorbing manner, with well-drawn characters, producing a solid and satisfying novel. This is the second in this series, the first being "Hose Monkey," which deals with the events which transform Serpe and Healy from enemies into friends, and which I will now seek out to read. I'm sure it will prove to be equally enjoyable.

Recommended.