Sinners' Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel (Jackson Steeg Mysteries) [Paperback]

Ira Berkowitz (Author)

Book Description

Series: Jackson Steeg Mysteries | Publication Date: December 29, 2009

Private investigator Jackson Steeg has a new client—his mobster brother, Dave, who’s in deep trouble after a suspicious fire in one of his warehouses leaves half a dozen charred corpses in its wake.

Steeg might not approve of his brother’s ways, but blood is blood, so he doggedly chases the truth, even when the trail leads him to a diabolical serial killer haunting the grimy streets of Hell’s Kitchen—and to the realization that the answers to all of his ugliest questions lie far too close to home.

Propelled by Ira Berkowitz’s lean, lyrical prose, Sinners’ Ball is another hard-hitting journey into a dark world of old-school gangsters, murky morality, and inherited sin that lies hidden beneath New York City’s antiseptic modern façade.

Shamus Award Winner

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Nasty, brutish and deadly describes the world of Jackson Steeg, as shown in Berkowitz's third novel to feature the ex-NYPD homicide detective with one lung and a weakness for the bottle (after Old Flame). When a warehouse owned by Steeg's mob-connected brother, Dave, goes up in flames and kills three squatters and two fire fighters, an additional six bodies, sexually mutilated and placed in packing crates, turn up in the basement. Dave is an easy target for an indictment, and when Steeg tries to locate the real culprit, he steps on the wrong toes and finds himself in deep trouble. Berkowitz's brisk style is a perfect fit for this violent world of killers, scam artists, crooked politicians and the downtrodden of all sorts. Steeg is loyal to friends and family, and if that means turning a blind eye occasionally or administering his own form of justice, then so be it. There are no white knights, no storybook endings for Berkowitz, just vivid, ragged slashes of life. (Dec.)
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From Booklist

Former NYPD detective turned sometime private eye Jackson Steeg normally keeps his distance from his mobster brother, Dave, but in Hell’s Kitchen, family trumps all. So when Dave’s warehouse is torched, and six mutilated, charred corpses are found in the ruins, Jackson commits to helping his brother. Soon, Steeg is the target of some very bad guys working to protect the secrets of some of the most powerful people in Manhattan. He is also caught up in family drama. Dave, normally shrewd, astute, and at times spectacularly violent, has lost his criminal mojo. Worse, Dave’s son has left Dartmouth to join the family business. Sinner’s Ball isn’t quite as much fun as Old Flame (2008), Berkowitz’s previous Steeg novel. There’s an air of tragedy this time, as Steeg tries to reconcile family loyalties with his sense of what’s right. That said, Berkowitz’s take on family ties remains true to his series’ vision of Hell’s Kitchen’s pre-gentrification denizens. There’s plenty of action here, too, and crisp, clever writing. --Thomas Gaughan

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Product Details

• Paperback: 271 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (December 29, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307408639
• ISBN-13: 978-0307408631
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.6 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,779,601 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ira Berkowitz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Writing fiction was the furthest thing from his mind.

He attended New York University, fully expecting to attend Medical School upon graduation. Instead, he wound up in law school. After enduring two years studying torts, contracts, corporate, real estate, and other legal matters - try curling up with the laws of riparian rights on a cold winter night - he decided there had to be a more interesting way to earn a living. And, with only one more year to go, he quit. Now he was really at odds and ends. No career. No job. And no prospects.

Enter his wife - then fiancee - the very wise, Phyllis.

How about advertising, she suggested. He patiently explained he had absolutely no artistic ability, wasn't trained in snappy headline writing, and had never taken a business or marketing course. A career as an ice-road trucker would make more sense. But the more he thought about it, the more alluring her suggestion. Client lunches with Captains of Industry. TV commercial shoots at exotic locations. Expense account. The mad, Mad Avenue whirl! And a big salary to boot! So he went for it, and managed to land a job paying a hundred dollars a week. And found that he loved the business. Thirty years later he retired and realized how lucky he was. There wasn't a day he didn't enjoy going to work.


After several months of doing absolutely nothing and hating it, Ira's wife asked how he planned to keep busy. With a blank stare for a response she suggested he try writing fiction. Once again he patiently explained that he had never taken a creative writing course - and didn't plan to. And, he reminded her, marketing plans were the only pieces of fiction he had ever written. She reminded him of the "advertising" conversation they had had thirty years earlier. It did the trick.

Ira's first effort at fiction garnered fifty rejections. But a few were encouraging, so he kept at it. His second effort, Family Matters, the first book in the Jackson Steeg Mystery Series, was published in 2006 and won the Washington Irving Award for literary merit. And he repeated with Old Flame, published in 2008. Sinners' Ball, the third book in the series will be published, December 2009.

Ira is writing full time and considers himself lucky. There isn't a day he doesn't look forward to going to work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, December 30, 2009

By 

Randi Carp (Philadelphia, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sinners' Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel (Jackson Steeg Mysteries) (Paperback)

In the same vein as Harry Bosch, Steeg intrigues me enough to enjoy this book. It's a quick, entertaining and thoroughly engaging read with an ending that, surprisingly, surprised me. Enjoy it!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Grief tends to strip the gears of life.", December 29, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sinners' Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel (Jackson Steeg Mysteries) (Paperback)

Burkowitz slams through Sinner's Ball with a penchant for understatement and the popular notion of noir, as Jackson Steeg, ex-NY cop and PI agrees to help his gangster brother, Dave, avoid an indictment for an arson he did not commit. According to Dave, "Blood is blood." And that includes Dave's son, Anthony's recent initiation into the family business. Anthony is headed towards a solid career when the family business suddenly seems more attractive than the world of rules and regular paychecks. Jackson (Jake) is disgusted by this turn of events, but what can he do? Blood is blood. Unfortunately, Dave is in the sights of the DA when three bodies are discovered in the ashes of the fire, six more found downstairs in the warehouse, their deaths even more macabre and violent. Nah, Jake can't see Dave for this kind of brutality, so someone else must be at work, perhaps a sadistic serial killer.

There are lots of sinners at this ball, a wild and unpredictable cast of characters to put any law-abiding citizen's teeth on edge, the hookers, petty gangsters and tough guys who live by violence and like their parties rough. Burkowitz's dialog is noir-perfect, short, staccato, direct. There are just too many bodies and too many crimes to go around, yet few moral dilemmas other than Anthony's future. Moving between the mean streets of his Hell's Kitchen background and professional departmental contacts, Steeg swaggers through the pages with the proper degree of cynicism. Between an ex-hooker with a new con game, Dave's insistence he isn't responsible for the arson and Jake's occasional hope for a decent life, there is little joy in this world and lots of dead ends. By the time Steeg announces, "I was tired of dancing at the sinner's ball", so was I. Luan Gaines/2009.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great in the Steeg Series!, January 3, 2010

By 

Jessica Morris - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Sinners' Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel (Jackson Steeg Mysteries) (Paperback)

A friend gave me the first book in this series, Family Matters, and I loved it. I have now read all 3. Sinner's Ball does not disappoint! All the characters that I've come to love, and love to hate, are back - plus some new ones that add to this story. No need to read all three in order. Start with Sinner's Ball and, trust me, you'll love it - then go back to read Family Matters and Old Flame.

Okay, Mr. Berkowitz, I'm ready for the next one...