DARK HORSE is the second novel in Rory Flynn’s crime fiction series featuring Boston narcotics detective Eddy Harkness. Like its predecessor (THIRD RAIL), the title refers to the street drug featured in the story. Unfortunately this second entry can’t decide where its narrative focus lies.

A late summer hurricane slams into Boston as the novel opens. Detective Eddy Harkness and his Narco-Intel crew are examining the rain soaked streets of Boston’s Lower South End when another menace rears its head. A new, extraordinarily pure and deadly brand of heroin, known on the street as Dark Horse, has taken the lives of several residents and shows no sign of diminishing.

Harkness and his crew try to locate the source of Dark Horse, but are constantly distracted by the fallout caused when the displaced residents of the Lower South End take advantage of a obscure bylaw and move into Harkness’ hometown of Nagog.

Still Harkness persists in following Dark Horse’s trail, and eventually discovers that it is part of a conspiracy that includes several prominent Boston power brokers, and quite possibly the city Mayor as well.

Flynn wastes no time and thrusts us in the midst of the hurricane-ravaged streets with the first sentence of the opening chapter. This urgent pace continues through most of the opening scenes as Flynn establishes his direct, near hard-boiled prose style with an admirable economy of words and phrases. This is contrasted with the noticeably more detailed descriptions of the various locations and settings – which range from seedy downtown bars to Harvard University dorm rooms and some of Boston’s elite social clubs.

Sadly, however, the narrative slows down when the details of the land grab conspiracy dominate the events. Harkness soon finds himself investigating suspects that have nothing to do with Narco-Intel and only marginally with how Dark Horse first hit the streets.

It’s easy to understand the allure of the murky bylaws and other maneuvers that allow shady politicians to acquire land almost invisibly. It has all the makings of an involving and complex political thriller. But Flynn’s protagonist is first and foremost a narcotics investigator. So the inclusion of the deadly Dark Horse becomes little more than a way for Harkness and his partners to become involved in a case that has little to do with their unit. It’s a complicated case, to be sure, with a plethora of suspects from all strata of society – but not the kind of case that first attracted us to Eddy Harkness.

Flynn is a talented author with a flair for incorporating plot with both his primary and secondary characters. This second Eddy Harkness novel, however, forgets the focus of his central character and has Harkness floundering in far too many unfamiliar waters.

Drug addiction, and the ways drugs are enhanced to create more addicts – and more profits for the dealers – is still a relevant and prevalent concern. Let’s hope Flynn remembers this and pulls Harkness and his crew back on track for their third novel. —Alan Cranis

Get it at Amazon.