Review of Tony Spinosa's "Hose Monkey"

Reed Farrel Coleman wrote one of the best crime novels of the past few years, The James Deans, which was nominated for virtually every mystery award there is, and won quite a few of them. Now Coleman is wearing a slightly different hat: that of a man called Tony Spinosa.

Regardless of what name he's using, though, you know that Coleman/Spinosa is going to produce quality, literate fiction that probes the depths of the human soul in the form of an outstanding mystery plot. Hose Monkey, his latest, is no exception.

Joe Serpe was an NYPD detective, an honest copy, but one who covered too often for those who were less than pure, especially his drug-involved partner. Serpe lost his job with the PD, then tragically he lost his brother, a hero fireman who died on 9/11. After that, Serpe lost most of his reasons for trying, and now he just muddles through life, existing from day to day, but not really caring. He can't even bring himself to remove his brother's voice from his answering machine.

That starts to change, however, when a mentally retarded young man whom Serpe works with -- he's a fuel oil deliveryman, hence the book's title -- is murdered, and Serpe blames himself. He decides to investigate the murder, and finds an unlikely ally in the form of a retired Internal Affairs detective -- the very same cop who ran Serpe off the force several years before.

The plot of Hose Monkey is violent and suspenseful, but at its heart it is a quieter story, both sad and touching, and exquisitely written. Coleman has the ability to create characters who feel much realer than those we usually encounter in mystery stories, and as a result, their lives and their plights are much more moving. We care about them, because he has made them matter to us.

It is that aspect of Coleman's work (and now Spinosa's) that makes it rise to the top. Despite his excellence as a crime novelist, deep down Coleman is still a poet, and his work sings with a love of language and a keen understanding of the human psyche. He is a true credit to our genre, one of the finest writers we have.

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Comments

[Aldo]

I would second your review. I read the arc last month and was totally sucked in and wowed by the story. Reed's characters are his best quality because your really care about them and what happens to them.