*Starred Review* There are PIs who feel fear, who take beatings, whose health is bad, who pop pills, drink, and smoke too much—and then there is Manchester, England’s Cal Innes. Innes, returned from his unsuccessful sojourn in L.A. (Sucker Punch, 2009), is doing evictions for a slumlord when a rental catches fire with two tenants still in it. Acting on instinct, Cal rescues a young Pakistani child—the boy’s grandmother dies—and is labeled a hero by the press. The good publicity rejuvenates his sideline as an investigator, so he quits the slumlord, who immediately hires him back: more arsons are threatened, and an anti-immigrant group offers the logical suspects. The third entry in this strong series may be the best yet, as Cal’s investigation takes in white supremacists, student activists, and immigrants, all rushing headlong toward a fiery conflagration during a protest march on the so-called Curry Mile. In Cal’s noir-torn world, choosing sides is problematic, so he instead chooses problems, pursuing them with dogged intensity. (In a nod to The Maltese Falcon, Innes thinks, “When someone beats the shit out of your partner, you’re supposed to do something about it.”) The real problem is, by not choosing sides, it’s easy to live—and die—alone. Powerful stuff. --Keir Graff
Review
"Tough, funny and startlingly original, No More Heroes takes the modern P.I. novel to a whole new level. If you like Michael Connelly, Ian Rankin and Ken Bruen you have to read Ray Banks."--Jason Starr, author of Panic Attack and The Chill
"Cal's third rough-and-tumble first-person caper should keep most readers rapidly turning pages till the solid plot builds to a payoff in late innings." --Kirkus Reviews
