Customer Reviews

Sinners' Ball: A Jackson Steeg Novel (Jackson Steeg Mysteries)

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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!

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.

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...

This third mystery in the series about Jackson Steeg takes the reader into the depths of a New York winter in Hells Kitchen where the stakes are higher than ever before. Especially for the wonderful younger characters who now take center stage -- Dee Dee and Anthony. Once again Ira Berkowtitz creates people who stick in the mind, dialogue filled with punch and wit, and events that continually surprise.

READ THIS BOOK!

Roberta Silman, rsilman@verizon.net