Innocent Monster (Moe Prager) [Kindle Edition]

Reed Farrel Coleman (Author)

Book Description

When his estranged daughter Sarah comes to him with a request he cannot refuse, Moe Prager takes a deep breath and plunges back into the icy, opaque waters of secrets and lies.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In Shamus-winner Coleman's darkly impressive sixth Moe Prager mystery (after 2008's Empty Ever After), the retired Brooklyn PI takes on a baffling missing person case only because his estranged daughter, Sarah, begs him to help. In the three weeks since art prodigy Sashi Bluntstone, the 11-year-old daughter of Sarah's childhood friend Candy Castleman, disappeared from a walk on the beach near her Long Island home, the police have found no trace of the girl, who "skyrocketed to prominence at age four when her Abstract Expressionist paintings... began selling for tens of thousands of dollars." Prager, who encounters a host of ugly characters, including parents Max and Candy, who aren't telling all they know, and resentful painter Nathan Martyr, becomes increasingly sure that Sashi is dead, but keeps slogging along. His past as a cop, his guilt over his wife's murder, and his current career as a wine merchant make Prager a complex character well suited to handle a complex mystery.
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From Booklist

*Starred Review* Sashi Bluntstone, the 11-year-old Next New Thing on the New York art scene, has been abducted, and Moe Prager—former NYPD cop and former PI—is asked by his estranged daughter, Sarah, to join the search. He expects only tragedy; Sashi has already been missing for three weeks, and Moe hasn’t been a PI for seven years. Now a well-to-do wine merchant, Moe agrees, primarily to attempt to restore his relationship with Sarah. He quickly learns that nothing increases the value of paintings faster than the death of the painter. Suspects abound: wealthy, self-important collectors; greedy gallery owners; odious rival artists; even the victim’s parents. But Moe abides. This sixth Moe Prager novel is pretty much note-perfect. Coleman’s take on the art world as a den of iniquity is priceless, as is Moe himself—intelligent, street smart, and tough, especially for a sixtysomething. He’s also sophisticated, despite seeing himself as a “poor schmuck from Brooklyn.” He’s a mensch, and his bone-deep world weariness and mordant sense of humor should enthrall lovers of old-school, tough-talking, loner private eyes (think Loren D. Estleman’s Amos Walker). --Thomas Gaughan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 433 KB
• Print Length: 273 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1440536090
• Publisher: Tyrus Books (June 1, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005307LK4
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #40,155 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Innocent Monsters December 19, 2010

By Gloria Feit VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

A predominant theme of this wonderful new novel by Reed Farrel Coleman is guilt, something of which there is more than enough to go around, and which plagues several of the characters, not least of whom is the protagonist, Moe Prager. Moe [as are most New Yorkers] is still feeling the aftershock of 9/11; unable to deal with the murder of his first wife [from whom he had been divorced], seven years prior, for which he still feels responsible, and which.had in turn led to his continuing estrangement from his adored daughter, Sarah; morose following the end of his second marriage after six years, which had also caused him to close his p.i. office, in which his ex-wife had been a partner. He now, with his brother, owns several successful wine shops in and around the metro New York area, from Brooklyn to the Hamptons. All that changes when Sarah asks Moe to speak with a woman who was her best friend, role model and babysitter when Sarah was a child, about the disappearance of the woman's young daughter, a prodigy in the art world at four years of age, now only 11.

Moe, though now 60 and out of the NYPD for thirty years, cannot refuse his daughter, and he takes on the search for the possibly kidnapped child, now gone for three weeks; as he says, he is "back in the game," hoping that at the end there will be two daughters restored to their families. The title derives from something Moe is told by a possible suspect: "Beware the innocent monster, Mr. Prager, for it need not hide itself and lives closely among us."

The book is totally engaging from page one. The plot is intriguing; the characters well-drawn; the ending stunning. I've read most of Mr. Coleman's prior books and loved them all. The 2008 "Empty Ever After" stayed with me long after I'd read the last page, and I suspect this newest novel will as well. [And it's not just the fact I grew up, as did Prager, a Brooklyn Jew who still remembers all the neighborhoods where the investigation takes Moe, the original Nathan's Famous in Coney Island, the villainous departure of the Dodgers in 1957, and now roots for the Mets in Flushing.] The book revolves around the [mostly] enduring love of family. The writing is terrific, and the book is highly recommended.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Best June 24, 2011

By Mark Pastin

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Reed Farrell Coleman is today;s best American mystery writer. I got to know him through The James Deans. I had no idea what I was in for. Like Raymond Chandler or Henning Mankell, the mystery matters but the people and the culture around them matter more. Coleman is unusual in that his protagonist, Moe Prager, ages and develops and is not eternally a 25 year old super hero. What is going on around Moe is what is going on in today's world seen through the eyes of a brilliant observer. In Innocent Monster Moe turns his perceptive eye on parents who live their lives through their children's real and imagined accomplishments, with a surprising and yet right outcome. Read it or miss one of the few books this year that will be remembered by generations to come.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A contemporary "who done it" detective story August 8, 2011

By Max Read

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

"Innocent Monster" by Reed Farrel Coleman is a classic detective mystery novel. It takes place in contemporary times with the setting in New York City.

This novel is a Sixth (7th due out in December) for the author with the main character 'Moe Prager". It follows generally the same writing style as similar types of books of this genre. The story is narrated by the protagonist, Moe Prager and is reminisent of the old "Sam Spade" series where the detective talks his way though his adventure.

The story is about a child artist who is abducted and the twists and turns of events that occur as Moe Prager attempts to solve the mystery surrounding her disappearance. The setting in New York City (and Long Island) provide a vivid backdrop for the tale. There is an ample abundance of peculiar characters in the story that provide the requisite distraction from what really happened so the reader is continually 'pulled in' with false leads.

I thought the book was ok. It was written well enough to keep me reading to the conclusion. There was nothing particularly memorable about the novel. Moe Prager as a character is not an endearing soul although likeable enough in this story. I did have some problems with the missing young artist in that her character was not really played up satisfactorily. The reader almost has no sympathy for her and this takes away from the underlying motivation to find her.

In all I liked the novel. I would recommend it for a light summer read. If you are at the beach you can put it down and pick it up again and continue right along from where you left off.

More About the Author

Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR's Maureen Corrigan, Reed Farrel Coleman is the former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. He has published twelve novels in three series, and one stand-alone with award-winning Irish author Ken Bruen. His books have been translated into seven languages, and the Moe Prager character in his current series is one of the most engaging in crime fiction. "His bone-deep world weariness and mordant sense of humor should enthrall lovers of old-school, tough-talking, loner private eyes," says Booklist.

Reed is a three-time winner of the Shamus Award for Best Detective Novel of the Year. He has also received the Barry and Anthony Awards, and has been twice nominated for the Edgar® Award. He was the editor of the anthology Hard Boiled Brooklyn, and his short fiction and essays have appeared in Wall Street Noir, The Darker Mask, These Guns For Hire, Brooklyn Noir 3, Damn Near Dead, and other publications.

Reed is an adjunct instructor at Hofstra University, teaching writing classes in mystery fiction and the novel.

His standalone novel, GUN CHURCH, is available in print and from Audible.com, and his seventh Moe Prager novel (HURT MACHINE) has been winning accolades from the likes of Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and others.