This book is irresistible if you know Long Beach and have driven down, eaten at, or can otherwise recognize the places Dilts mentions. And even it you don't, it's pretty good. Though suffering with chronic pain, Long Beach detective Danny Becket is back on the job after an altercation with a bad guy nearly severs his hand from his wrist. He and his black-belt partner, Jennifer Tanaka, are investigating the brutal killing of a congressman's son's wife and young children, and the case keeps getting more and more complicated. At one point, he actually diagrams the relationship among the various motives and players. "Russians, politicians, Ukrainians, special ops, Jolly Green Giants. Come on, you think anyone could follow this?"
I wasn't sure I'd like this book, but it hooked me from the first page. I liked Becket and Tanaka and their on the job partnership. It made me think about pain, and I remembered how relieved my mom was when her doctor finally decided it wasn't just old age that caused her hip pain and put her in the hospital for a work up. They diagnosed her cancer almost immediately and had her on morphine patches until her radiation course was completed. She also was asked to rate her pain multiple times using the same pain chart. Coincidentally, a couple of days ago when I was about 3/4 of the way through this book, it appeared on Amazon's mystery book deals and I snapped it up! I didn't see the identity of the person behind the murders coming. I also want to try Enrique's carne asada even if they no longer serve it in a breakfast burrito. My mouth watered every time he mentioned that dish!
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