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The Wolves of Fairmount Park

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The Wolves Of Fairmount Park by Dennis Tafoya

This book chronicles the events that surround a drive by shooting that traumatizes two families and where collateral damages purges a portion of the Philadelphia drug scene.

Dennis Tafoya writes a complicated mystery. You may figure out the who but the why may escape you. He maintains your interest by providing in depth characterizations. Be prepared for some un-likeable characters. Cop cultural clashes with junkie culture and family values. Chris Black, muscle for hire, was both one of the saddest and yet eventually redeemable personalities in the book.

The insular nature of a chunk of urban society was well illustrated by Tafoya. It may be a little hard to believe unless you have urban friends. Years and years ago we took a Philadelphia friend to a Bucks County Inn for dinner. The terrific dinner didn't hold a candle to his reaction to being so far out in the country. The lack of street lights, street signs and stop lights was only surpassed by his amazement that there were real cows just standing around in fields.

This author did an excellent job capturing the dismaying aspects of both the drug culture and the insular urban despair. The moving frustration of cops, overwhelmed by insurmountable problems, was movingly poignant.

I recommend the book.

In Philadelphia, a drive-by shooting at a dope house leads two teens rushed to an emergency room; one dies while the other is critically injured. The fathers of the victims are psychologically wounded too. Police Officer Brendan Donovan whose son Michael was severely wounded and local entrepreneur George Parkman Sr. whose son Jr. died in the incident wonder why.

Both dads believe that Brendan's half-brother, Michael's Uncle Orlando a drug addict was the cause of the attack. PPD detectives Danny Martinez and Asa Carmody investigate the shooting that seems increasingly to affirm the theory of the fathers that Orlando was the motive for the deadly drive-by.

This is a gloom and doom deep look at the aftermath of a tragic event as seen mostly through the rotating viewpoints amongst the four males not physically hurt by the incident; though other perspectives by family members, girlfriends and the female detective enhance the dark urban Noir. The fathers are the most fascinating as the cop prays for God to save his beloved son while the tycoon who ignored his offspring when he was alive insists on vengeance. Fans who appreciate a realistic walk on the wild side of the streets will want to read The Wolves of Fairmount Park.

Harriet Klausner

A drive by shooting fronting a drug house in Philadelphia leaves a pair of teenage boys, one the son of police officer Brendan Donovan, fighting for life. The Philadelphia PD, anxious to strike a quick arrest, pins the crime on a rival drug gang - "problem solved - let's move on". But detective Danny Martinez isn't so sure, and challenging convention wisdom, he bucks the system in pursuit of the real bad guys. Meanwhile, Donovan's half-brother Orlando, a strung out druggie, hopes he'll find some measure of redemption in his own investigation of his nephew's assault.

Make no mistake about it - Dennis Tafoya can write. I was drawn to "The Wolves of Fairmount Park" by favorable comparisons to Dennis Lehane. Indeed, Tafoya's gritty Philadelphia streets and decaying row houses are up to par with Lehane's South Boston haunts. And Tafoya's characters are meticulously drawn, the atmosphere is suitably dark, the dialog is credible, the situation credible. So what's not to like? "The Wolves of Fairmount Park" is a classic study in the importance of storytelling. Despite a well-drawn cast, a setting told with authority, and an author who clearly knows of what he writes, the story is simply not engaging. Yes, there were great characters, but none central - none that the reader is really made to care about. And there were simply too many of them vying for that vaunted role of "protagonist." Add to that an uneven pace, thrilling and suspenseful in bursts followed by long stretches of tedium and minutia. So in the final analysis, there was little mystery and less suspense in the climax - why does the reader really care which gang banger is ultimately fingered for the crime, while there is only slightly more interest in the "why?" Where Lehane "gets" the beauty of clean lines and simple themes, this author got caught up in too many messages of love, betrayal, sexuality, drugs, and justice, never cleanly tying any of them together.

Too bad, because Dennis Tafoya definitely has the chops, and I'll gladly go back to the his well for the next one. But I'd suggest a more brutal editor and some additional schooling on a couple more volumes of Lehane - or William Lashner to keep him closer to home - before I'd put him in that rarified air.

Great pacing, well developed characters, a "you are here" feel and a tight plot drive this modern crime thriller. Definitely worth reading.

Dennis Tafoya demonstrated a fierce talent and genuine insight with his first novel, DOPE THIEF, but with WOLVES OF FAIMOUNT PARK he reveals the subtle talents of a new master of the genre. He manages to balance a cunning streetwise storytelling sense with a literary passion for gorgeous prose, elevating the book so that it can stand a police line-up with Ken Bruen, James Lee Burke, George Pelecanos, and Dennis Lehane,

I couldn't put this book down. This is well-layered story with compliacted characters and a very dark context. Reminds me a lot of Richard Price's Lush Life. Definitely recommeneded. Just buy it, read it, and enjoy it.

This mystery novel is more about the characters than the crime involved. It begins with a drive-by shooting in a bad Philadelphia neighborhood in which two teenage boys are hit, one dying, the other in a coma at the ER. As a result any number of people want to find out why the two had been shot at.

To begin with there is the father of the slain lad, who seeks revenge. The cop father of the other boy has a drug addict brother, perhaps the only one, including various detectives, who can eventually put all the pieces together, at great personal risk.

The violence throughout the novel, some basically superfluous to the main plot, albeit necessary to delve into the character of the main culprit, is graphic. The story moves along smoothly, with well-written analyses of the relationships among the downtrodden, especially as they grasp for help or love.

Recommended.

A drug gang shooting in a crumbling neighbohood. One dead, two wounded. the only difference is that two of the injured are "good boys", one a cop's son. Welcome to Philly, USA.

If you enjoy a view of and from the depths of society, this book is for you. Be prepared for an unremitting crawl through the gutters of one of the least interesting cities of the country. All of the characters in the book are people you would see on the street and immediately make sure your car doors are locked and the cell phone speedy-dialed to 911--and that includes the cops!

Good writing, that is undeniable, but the word pictures are dark, dirty, disgusting and depresssing to read. I did not find it either enjoyable or entertaining, either as a mystery-thriller or a expose view of the way of the drug-world denizens exist.

Read at leisure-reject in haste.