Safe Harbor Book

Before his strange death in 1997 (his body was found hanging outside his Chicago office), Eugene Izzi wrote some of the best crime fiction in recent memory. His hard-edged books such as A Matter of Honor and The Criminalist are all told from the criminal's point of view. Safe Harbor was first published in England in 1995, when Izzi was having trouble finding an American outlet. It's a familiar story: the mobster who becomes an informer for the best of reasons (in this case a threat to his child), and then goes into a witness protection programme and leads a blameless life. Mark Torrence, (called Tommy Torelli in his criminal days), has his new and secret life threatened by a ghost from the past--a vengeful hitman called James Bracken. This vicious and depraved killer, has his own very good, and perversely logical, reasons for hunting down Torrence. What gives the book new life and lots of energy is the way Izzi develops all his characters with small strokes of reality. Even the incredibly obnoxious neighbour who accidentally leaks Torrence's true identity is made human by tiny touches of his daily life. Not having any more new books by Izzi to look forward to is a great loss, but the late arrival of Safe Harbor makes it more bearable --Dick AdlerRead More