I can safely say that TRIGGER CITY is no sophomore slump for Sean Chercover. In fact, it breaks through the level set by his BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD debut, which I loved. Continuing with detective Ray Dudgeon, the story opens a few months after the events of the first book, literally with a big bang, in the form of a woman named Joan Richmond being shot and killed by former co-worker Steven Zhang, who then takes his own life and leaves behind a bizarre suicide note.
The cops close the case faster than expected, ruling it as the work of a paranoid schizophrenic. Ray enters the picture when Joan’s grieving father wants him to find out exactly why this happened. Ray has no idea about the can of worms he is about to open.
Chercover has come up with a gripping mystery with some great reveals that will have readers’ jaws drop. It’s not a tidy case at all, since once Ray starts digging, he comes face to face with some truly dark corners of government contractors, including thinly veiled military contractor Hawk River, which was the former employers of Joan and Steven.
But what drove them from leaving this company is what Ray peers into deeper and deeper. There are multiple attempts to dissuade him from the case, but he figures “in for a penny, in for a pound,” no matter where it leads. When that takes him to finding out Joan was about to be a star witness in front of Congress, Ray starts putting the puzzle together.
While this is going on, Ray also has personal problems to deal with, including his girlfriend leaving him after the events of BIG CITY. But what even hits him harder is the widow of the said killer, who seems to be hiding facts from Ray as though she was threatened with death. There are plenty of surprises within these pages. When you think the story is going a certain way, Chercover shows he has a few aces up his sleeve.
TRIGGER CITY is such a great follow-up that it should propel Chercover to a wider audience. It’s as if he will only improve with even more daring cases for Ray, since the author is not afraid of who he might piss off with his subject matter. Look for this book to make a few end-of-year lists, including mine. —Bruce Grossman
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD by Sean Chercover
