"Fresh Meat" by Leigh Neely for Criminal Element

Conservative talk-show host Howie Carr has moved into the realm of fiction with apparent ease. His two previous books were about real-life mob guys and he hasn’t changed that theme. His first novel, Hard Knocks, is a gritty, adventurous romp into the world of politics and mobsters in Boston with enough surprise twists to keep you guessing to the end.

Jack Reilly, former cop and now a discreet provider of information (or as he says, “excrement broker”) for politicians, gets a new client thanks to his younger brother, Marty, who’s serving time in a federal prison. Bucky Bennett wants Jack to keep a package safe, but is murdered execution style before Jack even lays hands on the mysterious “package.”

(Read the rest at http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2011/12/fresh-meat-howie-carr-hard-knocks)

Jack Reilly is an ex-cop in Boston who is trying to make a living as a P.I. He's also trying to live down the embarassment of his younger brother, Mickey, being in jail.

A former convict and friend of Mickey, hires Jack for a job but is gunned down shortly thereafter.

One of Jack's former academy classmates, Plain View Evans, leads the investigation and shows that he thinks Jack is involved in a crime, possibly with the mob.

As Jack begins investigating why the man was gunned down, the reader can't help being reminded of another Boston P.I., Robert Parker's wonderful character, Spencer. The author also seems influenced by Mickey Spillane and in Reilly, we see a new and improved Mike Hammer.

The humorous but complicated plot eventually comes together and the reader is drawn to the suspenseful action.

I was impressed with the realistic dialogue and setting of the South Boston area filled with politicians on the take and dirty lawmen.

The author is a columnist for the "Boston Herald" and has given the reader an interesting vision of the hard streets of Boston and a modern P.I. who knows how to survive within those mean streets. ( )

I did not like this book at all. Jack Reilly is one of, if not the most, unlikable main characters I have ever come across. He is bitter about his family, his ex-wife, his job, and the changes within the city of Boston. In fact, he didn't seem to enjoy anything in his life.

I found the racial slurs highly disturbing. The main character and many of the other characters tossed crude remarks around as if their opinions were fact. They insulted various races, as well as gay people and "illegals" on a constant basis. The author portrayed Boston to be a city of intolerant, narrow-minded losers.

As for the plot, I grew up and spent most of my life in the suburbs of Boston, so I understood the references to the various parts of the city. I'm not sure these things would translate well to readers unfamiliar with the area. There are many characters and a lot of activity going on, making the plotlines difficult to follow. The entire government of Boston, all officials and the police departments, are corrupt. No one can be trusted because they are all owned by mobsters and/or hungry for power. The extent of the corruption vastly stretched believability for me.

The only good thing I can say about this book is that the writing itself, style and sentence structure, is very good. The dialogue is crisp and you get a strong sense of each character's personality. But I didn't like any of them. ( )