Taking a break from his two crime series, David Walker sticks to the genre in the very entertaining stand-alone SAVING PAULO. Ask yourself this question: What would you do if you saw a small child hanging onto a man for his dear life? You catch his eyes and you can just tell he needs your help. Then the man the child is clinging to gets killed right in front of your eyes by the hands of some Russian mobsters. Would you grab the kid and protect him, even though it’s totally against your character?
That is the problem that faces Charlie Long. We are introduced to him as he is let go from his go-nowhere job. He figures he’ll meet his brother for lunch and break the news. That’s when Charlie watches a tall black man run through the restaurant, clutching a little boy who is mute and scared.
Charlie figures he’ll follow just to make sure the kid is not just being snatched; for some reason, he is drawn to the youth. That is when he sees the man shot to death while the child runs right to him, and Charlie finally realizes he needs to take a stand in his life, starting off with trying to get this boy to safety, no matter what might come his way.
Walker throws in a woman named Maria, who is flying back to Chicago after years of working at a Brazilian orphanage. How she ties to this child, named Paulo, is made apparent right away: He was snatched off the streets of Brazil to be sold into a sex slave ring, and the man who was killed in front of Paulo was an agent who was trying to bring him back. There is also a fortune teller named Zorina, whom Charlie and Paulo stumble upon. She’s nothing but helpful and observant, even if she is not a true psychic.
This trio of people is here to help Paulo — who, through the whole of the book, never speaks — while trying to dodge Russian gunmen. The novel takes a turn when it’s revealed why even the DEA is after the boy. Walker’s writing will keep the reader glued, even if the last act seems a bit of a stretch with some of the actions taken. But the characters are so well-drawn, you won’t mind. —Bruce Grossman
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