What You Wish For (Otto Penzler Books) [Hardcover]

David Cray (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2002 | Series: Otto Penzler Books

To enthusiastic reviews David Cray staked out his gritty, darkly realistic territory in the field of crime fiction with the gripping police procedural Little Girl Blue. In it, he also introduced the tough-minded NYPD lieutenant Julia Brennan and disaffected undercover cop Peter Foley—just two of the reasons that prompted the Cleveland Plain Dealer to note, “It’s only a matter of time before the reading world discovers David Cray.” That time has come with Brennan’s second outing in New York’s criminal underworld. Now a captain and commanding officer of the district attorney’s Sex Crimes Unit, Brennan is investigating the homicide of Adeline Rose, who has been found murdered in the third-floor sitting room of her Manhattan townhouse. So consumed does Julia become by the case, in fact, that she barely notices Peter Foley has not been returning her phone calls. Foley has discovered that his young daughter, kidnapped more than five years before, is still alive. Prepared to do anything to get his child back, Foley has intentionally been avoiding the more scrupulous Julia. She, though, will soon prove to be his fiercest ally—in a deadly game with stakes so high that no rules hold. “A master manipulator ... with sardonic humor.”—Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this well-oiled crime novel, tough, smart, beautiful New York detective Julia Brennan investigates the murder of Adeline Rose, a wealthy Upper East Side widow with a shady past, while ex-cop boyfriend Peter Foley goes undercover to rescue his 11-year-old daughter from the child pornographers who kidnapped her five years earlier. Uptown, Julia, now a captain in the district attorney's Sex Crimes Unit, quickly identifies three prime suspects for Rose's homicide: her slick lawyer, junkie stepdaughter and menacing stepson. All three hated the woman and all three lied to the police. Julia evades easy answers, uncovering the murderous plot with the same savvy she applies to interoffice politics. Downtown, Peter has no easy answers, no press conferences and no office. With only an amateur videotape to suggest his daughter is still alive, he is ready to do anything to get her back. As the bruised bodies of pornographers and thugs pile up along Peter's path, Julia is warned he may not be the ideal match for an ambitious woman like her. Cray (Little Girl Blue, etc.) uses time-tested formulas, filling his uptown mystery with clever dialogue and his downtown crime caper with action. He delivers ample amounts of sex and violence, followed by redemptive portions of morality and family feeling. Cray knows readers turn to crime fiction to satisfy a need for poetic justice-clean endings, puzzles with all the pieces in place-and he doesn't disappoint. The villains suffer the nasty fates they deserve; the heroes triumph, ready for the sequel.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In a gritty crime story set in the underbelly of New York City, good guys are difficult to differentiate from bad ones. Just as appealing is a police procedural in which good defeats evil by following the letter of the law. Here, in Cray's fourth novel, the two worlds collide, with a thoroughly engaging result. Julia Brennan, first introduced in Little Girl Blue (2001), is an uptown police captain investigating the death of a well-to-do elderly woman. As Julia focuses exclusively on the details of her case, her boyfriend, Peter Foley, follows a new lead regarding his daughter Patti's disappearance, the object of his five-year obsession. As an ex-cop, Peter must resort to vigilantism to help find Patti. But given their public relationship, how will his unscrupulous tactics affect Julia's standing as a by-the-books officer? Peter seeks to distance himself from her for this very reason, but little does he know that it's Julia who will aid him in his efforts, risking not only her career but her life as well. Mary Frances Wilkens
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Hardcover: 313 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (October 21, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786710853
• ISBN-13: 978-0786710850
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,661,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Hunt Revisited, January 13, 2004

By 

Marc Ruby™ "The Noh Hare™" (Warren, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: What You Wish For (Otto Penzler Books) (Hardcover)

What You Wish For picks up its characters and themes from one of David Cray's earlier efforts - Little Girl Blue. Peter Foley, an ex-cop turned crusader who hunts throught the underground world of child abuse seeking his kidnapped daughter and whatever justice he can extract from the monstous evil he sees. And Julia Brennan, not promoted to Captain of the Sex Crimes Unit, who is learning to navigate the difficult waters of police politics while fielding a case where the perpetrator gives in too easily.

While the two story arcs in the book run independently, the lives of Brennan and Foley meet and touch at all levels, their seperate quests stress the relationship, but somehow fail to break it. Even when Foley distances himself to protect Julia from the effects of his investigation and she becomes so wrapped up in her own hunt that she barely notices that Foley hasn't returned her calls. One of Cray's more interesting approaches is to let his main characters have lives that share commonality and values but can proceed independently when needed.

Julia's case, the effort to solve the violent murder of an elderly, wealthy, and unpleasant woman offers a unique focus on a part of investigation that is usually slighted in procedurals - the questioning of a suspect. This is a world of subtle clues and sometimes not-so-subtle techniques and Cray does a great job of portraying the process. He captures both the gripping and tedious elements of the process graphically.

Foley's hunt is on it's last stretch. He has found a porno video in which his daughter appears. He pursues one faint clue after another with little regard for 'correct' procedure - always nearly out of control, and can cross the boundary without warning. In the end he must confront a fathers worst nightmare - his own insecurity about whether finding his daughter might be worse than not finding her.

While Cray often borders on writing a noir novel, he never quite crosses over into that territory. Instead he distracts the reader from the grim nature of the crimes with a flurry of details. While the overall writing of the story is excellent, sometimes this device produces more confusion than intensity, especially when the book is really two unrelated stories about related characters. It would have been more satisfactory has there been a closer connection, or if the conflict had produced more of a clash of wills.

Even so this was a readable and interesting book, but a bit more loosely written than I would have liked it to be. The focus is diffuse, but the subject matter is compelling. Recommended.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better Than The Bestsellers, November 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: What You Wish For (Otto Penzler Books) (Hardcover)

Not only is David Cray a master at plotting and procedure, but he knows how to get under the skin of his readers with real-life, believable characters. There is not one false note in this book, and it puzzles me why David Cray is not a number one bestseller. Perhaps his publisher should listen to his readers and put some money into a marketing campaign so more people would know about the exceptionally honest skill of David Cray. I can't wait for the next book!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars pleae keep the novels coming!, November 4, 2002

By 

Christine L. Davis "aggbatt" (chicago, illinois United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: What You Wish For (Otto Penzler Books) (Hardcover)

This book, along with LITTEL GIRL BLUE, are the most extraordinary crime novels I have read. I am in law enforcement and the accuracy of procedures, personalities of characters, police politics, and the judicial system are so accurate its uncanny. These two books look past the plot into the depth of the characters. I have never been more entertained. Please continue to keep the lives of Julia and Peter coming to us through your wonderful writing.