Frank Marr used to be a police detective, but he took early retirement. He has a bad drug habit and he is struggling with his moral standards. He wants to do the right thing, but he is ready to take just about any short cut to get what he wants.  Mostly, he hurts the bad guys and protects the innocent, but he has trouble living with himself. His drug habit helps him live with himself, but his anger and desperation may lead him to self-destruction. He has seen the worst of humanity and he is feels so alone. There is some chance he can achieve some connection with others, but he might be headed toward self-destruction.

While Frank is surveilling a drug gang in order to steal their drugs, he comes across a teen girl who has been kidnapped. She is hooked on drugs and has been raped. He rescues her, and makes sure he still gets the drugs. He leaves the girl with a lawyer friend of his, a woman who he had a romance with at some point. But he tries her patience because he does not want to get involved with the police more than he has to. He finds that a second girl has been kidnapped and he gets hired by her parents to find her. His investigation is thorough, as he meets many criminals and friends of the missing girl, working out what happened to her and how to get her back. At the same time, he controls his needs for drugs, and his violence. Ultimately, Frank is a good man but this case may test him to his limits.

In the unabridged audiobook, Christopher Ryan Grant makes Frank a gruff but wise addict, full of dark thoughts but able to understand other people’s fragility. He brings out the noir in Swinson’s crime novel. This is a satisfying listen, even if the plot is entirely unbelievable.

© 2016 Christian Perring

Christian Perring has been editor of Metapsychology Online since 1997.