Customer Reviews

The Con Man's Daughter

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Another fabulous book by one of my favorite authors, Eddie Dee. I have read all his past books with Anthony Ryan and Joe Gregory as hero's but this one was extra special for me since I am a product of Yonkers, NY upbringing. It was a wonderful place, at the time to grow up and all those memories came flooding back as Eddie would use a lot of Yonkers references throughout this now book. It was a book that I could not put down once I got into it. The drama builds beautifully and the insights Eddie provides about detective work were tremendously interesting. I can't wait for his next book to arrive.

I have been a Dee fan since his first book- 14 Peck Slip, although I miss Anthony Ryan & Joe Gregory from his previous books- The Con Man's Daughter is the best one yet! Eddie Dunne is an incredible character from his remorse over past deeds to his fierce love for his family - Sean Penn wake up and smell the Oscar this character has your name ( with some make-up ) written all over him! There were moments while reading this book that tore at my heart- Eddie thinking about how his daughter's green shirt set off her red hair just as her grammer school tartan dress once had. And how she called out Daddy something she had not called him for a very long time. Dee write's female characters so well, I especially liked Eddie's sister-in-law Martha, and Babsie -well what can I say- she is the best- Hey Jamie Lee Curtis wanna hear And the Oscar goes to - You? Check Babsie out! There were also times that I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt there is a part about his daughter and a pogo stick- just great! This book is Ed Dee's moment in the Sun!

This is a violent story that is carefully constructed, not a page turning thriller but a compelling mystery that had me desperate to find out the story behind the kidnapping. In essence what we witness is a man who will stop at absolutely nothing (and he goes through hell - believe me) in his bid to get his daughter back. I was starting to feel the effects of his struggle myself by the end of the book.
From the beachfront of Coney Island in the heart of Russian mafiya territory and on up to Yonkers The Con Man's Daughter is set in the darker, more dangerous neighborhoods of New York. This is a brooding novel with violence only a matter of eye contact with the wrong person away. Ed Dee immerses us in the dark world controlled by the Russian mafiya, visits with Italian gangsters and reminisces through an ex-cop who gladly bent the law whenever it suited him.

Eddie Dunne is 54 years old, an ex-cop, a father and a grandfather. Since leaving the force he has worked a variety of jobs but the most notable was as a chauffeur for Anatoly Lukin, a Russian businessman considered by the police to be a crime lord.

When Eddie Dunne witnesses the kidnapping of his daughter he can only think of one person who could be responsible. Yuri Borodenko is the powerful head of a Russian mafiya family that is taking control of the area around Coney Island in New York. He is in direct competition with Anatoly Lukin, Eddie's former boss. Could it be that Borodenko is finally repaying some kind of vendetta from the days he was involved in mafiya business?

Eddie uses all of his experience as an ex-cop and his connections with the underworld to try to get a handle on where his daughter is being held. He has added motivation to find his daughter apart from the obvious fact that she's his daughter and he loves her very much, and that motivation comes in the form of his six year old grad-daughter Grace. He must be ever mindful that the Russians could just as readily snatch Grace as they did Kate.

When the days pass and no ransom demand or contact of any kind comes from the kidnappers, Eddie is forced to the conclusion that the kidnapping must be some sort of revenge against him for something he had done in the past. Important busts he made as a cop, criminals he once associated with, any number of things could be used as motivation against him. But which one is it? And how can he find out the answer?

Rather than the more expected feeling of desperation that would normally be typical of a kidnapping case the pace of The Con Man's Daughter is more like the slow pacing of a caged tiger, filled with pent up energy and rage. His movements are controlled but rather than wait for instructions from the police or the FBI, he's just going to go ahead and solve this one on his own...in his own way.

As Eddie gradually homes in on his daughter's captors you can sense that that energy that has slowly been leaking out is about to be unleashed in a terrible fury. Indeed, there is nothing subtle about Eddie's methods right from the start. He is not a believer in reasoning with someone when intimidation can be used just as effectively, or if that doesn't work then bribery may be used. Of course, he is not afraid to skip straight to the old "beat the information out of them" method.

Ed Dee has mixed the dangerous world of the organized criminal with the close-knit law abiding family displaying a stark contrast between good and evil. But then he blurs that line through the persona of Eddie Dunne and the ramifications of his past that come back to haunt him. It's up to us to decide whether Eddie is a guilty man or a victim.

Dee, a retired NYPD Organized Crime lieutenant, sets aside his series cops, Anthony Ryan and Joe Gregory ("14 Peck Slip," "Nightbird"), to deliver a taut, intense thriller featuring ex-cop, ex-boxer, ex-Russian mob courier, ex-drinker, and ex-brawler Eddie Dunne.

"The sins of Eddie Dunne's past returned on a cold morning in April, more than four years after he'd turned his life around." For those sins, someone snatches Eddie's daughter, Kate, while he's walking the delight of his life, his granddaughter, Grace, to school. Eddie knows it's got to have some connection to the Russian mob, but what?

Not one to hang around thinking (a character trait that usually, but not always, works for him), he goes after his old Russian boss, who points him to the new boss, Borodenko. Eddie firebombs the man's car to get his attention and that night someone slings Eddie's crooked ex-partner's severed head at his front door.

The feds jump into the mix, looking to trade for Russian mob secrets. Eddie will take any help he can get, but knows he's mostly on his own. Dee's Russians are truly, badly scary and the tangled plot material - Russian medicare fraud, gas tax schemes, car smuggling, money laundering and murder; FBI wiretaps and deals; crooked cops, and Italian mafiosi rip offs - feels as authentic as it is fascinating.

But the engine powering this story is Eddie. Relentless Eddie proves unstoppable. Even he doesn't know what he might do next. With his keen intelligence, and deep, but not self-pitying, regrets, this fearless implacability makes him a rivetting protagonist.

From Coney Island to the Dunne family Irish bar in Yonkers, Dee knows the sociopaths, con-artists, grimmer corners and old neighborhoods of New York. His characters, from 6-year-old Grace to the incomprehensible ruthless Russians, live and breathe on the page. A terrific read.

Ed Dee knows the cops and the crooks and the reader benefits. An ex-cop goes a few rounds with the Russian mob, and his past comes back to haunt him. If you haven't had the pleasure of reading Dee before, start here.

In his fifties and now a grandfather to an elementary school aged child, former prize-fighter Eddie Dunn was once a cop before NYPD fired him and his partner Paulie "the Priest" Caruso. To earn spending money, Eddie worked as a courier for Russian gangster Anatoly Lukin, which gave him insight into mob secrets that still remain genuine though he has been retired for a few years.

Eddie's past resurfaces when someone kidnaps his mid thirties daughter Kate with no obvious motive for the snatch. Eddie believes the abduction is linked to his days working for the Brighton Beach Russian mob with indications that Lukin's rival crime lord Yuri Borodenko is responsible. Eddie reacts in his brawl like manner by firebombing Borodenko's Rolls Royce. Borodenko also prefers fists and bullets first and leaves the severed head of Paulie as a present by Eddie's front door. The battle between these two violent individuals has not quite turned nasty yet, but wait the novel is just beginning.

Fans of gritty realistic violence or just Crime 101 will appreciate Ed Dee's wild tour of New York City where more than a tree grows in Brooklyn. The personal war between the antihero and the thug keeps getting hotter as each one ups the ante and the action. Insider criminal information is also handled for those readers who desire a discourse on a variety of sundry criminal activities (not sure of the social message that provides) which adds to the dark, dirty and seamier side of life on the mean streets of Mr. Dee's New York.

Harriet Klausner

I heard the retired NYC policeman and now novelist Ed Dee speak on a crime fiction panel and chatted with him briefly afterward. I worked my way through his first four books and found them all well-written, well-paced, gritty, and intriguing. They were a series featuring the same protagonist. THE CON MAN'S DAUGHTER, a standalone, is also up to par. Mr. Dee follows in the rich, vibrant ex-cop/writer tradition of Dorothy Uhnak who blurbed his first books.

This was a pretty good read. It's a fairly effective combination: hard-edged ex-cop with a checkered past has to find his kidnapped daughter. Good stuff. Sort of like Dan Simmons' protagonist, Joe Kurtz, although not as misanthropic. If you like detective or cop stories you'll probably enjoy it. So why 3 stars and not 4? One complaint: our hero keeps losing his gun. Literally. He keeps getting clobbered (despite being armed) then disarmed, then pummeled. Once, okay. 2 or 3 times is too many. So, 3 stars.

Ed Dee is smokin' hot with The Con Man's Daughter. Kidnapping, mystery, shocks, thrills, tenderness...this novel has it all in spades. Retired cop Eddie Dunne has just gotten his life together when his past comes to haunt him. His daughter is kidnapped by the Russian Mafia. He has to find her no matter what he has to do to accomplish it. Get ready for some sizzling twists and turns as secrets from the past tumble his world into one of intense suspense. Don't miss this one!

I just finished reading "The Con Man's Daughter" by Ed Dee. This intriguing novel kept me involved and transported to the streets with the main character, Eddie Dunne, and his gritty search for his kidnapped daughter. As the events unfold, I felt the rumbling of the el overhead, Eddie's exasperation, the twists and turns of dealing with his past links with the New York Police and the Russian mob. I tried to guess the results and was still surprised by the ending! Neatly tied sequences and lots of drama kept the pages turning. The action in this story would be a great movie!