Crime

This is a good police procedural murder mystery story. It's set in contemporary Toronto and reflects some of the city's problems, e.g. expensive housing, greedy developers and so on.
The storytelling is fast-paced and shows the insight of an insider to the police investigation of a homicide. It includes lots of local colour about Toronto. (There's a few minor nits but nothing that significantly detracts from the story.)
Many of the characters are carryovers from the author's previous books. There's not a lot of character development. The main protagonist gains a daughter from a long ago relationship, who then plays a role in a sidebar to the main story. She will probably continue into subsequent additions to the series.
There's a large cast of potential suspects, which narrows down to one prime suspect as the story progresses. It comes to an exciting ending, with a car chase resulting in the capture of the murderer.
Recommended reading for crime fiction fans. ( )

Heart of the City is the fifth Detective Greene crime thriller from Robert Rotenberg. Like the other books in the series, the novel is set in Toronto and makes clever use of the familiar setting and actual city streets and landmarks to ground the action. When the body of the controversial young real-estate mogul Livingston Fox is found on the construction site of his most recent project, a high-rise next to Kensington Market, the case lands on the desk of Daniel Kennicott, former protégé of Detective Ari Greene. Having been charged with murder, Greene has left the force. And though he was exonerated, he did not return to police work and is instead working in construction—as it happens, at the site of the murder: and in fact, it is Ari who discovers the body. With Kennicott’s participation in the charges brought against Greene (this happened in Stranglehold, the previous novel in the series) the reunion of young detective Kennicott with his mentor is not a comfortable one, though with a murder to solve they both know they have to put personal feelings aside and get on with the job. The big difference this time around is that Ari Greene is a witness rather than an investigator, but this does not prevent him from becoming closely involved and deeply invested in the case. The story Rotenberg tells proceeds at a blistering pace. The reader is given few opportunities between significant incidents and plot twists to catch his breath. Family and the past are at the forefront of the story, and not only when it comes to unravelling the mystery: Ari Greene’s daughter Alison, an aspiring journalist, has a huge role to play, in Ari’s life and in solving the crime. Rotenberg’s prose has a plain-spoken, informal quality. Descriptive passages are brief, literary flourishes virtually absent, and characterization accomplished with a few quick strokes. This helps move the story along, but it also means that some of the central characters never really come into focus, making it difficult for us to care about them as much as the author would like us to. It also means the novel lacks the kind of atmosphere that would make it more memorable. But Rotenberg does not seem concerned with writing fiction that carries moral or intellectual heft or gets under the reader’s skin. Heart of the City is intended as a breezy entertainment, a quick read for a rainy Sunday afternoon. And in this it succeeds admirably. ( )

Ari Greene has spent the last year in England living with the daughter he did not know he had until a year ago. This all happened after his having been found innocent of killing his girl friend and leaving his job as a homicide detective with the Toronto Police Service.

Back in Toronto, he has kept a low profile and is working on a construction site as a gopher while his daughter Kate is attending journalism school. While trying to clean up some broken glass, he stumbles on to the body of his employer who has been murdered brutally in the last few minutes. His police instincts kick in and he delays calling 911 to see if he can track the killer which raises the curiosity of the detectives who eventually show up when he does call 911.

While trying to stay clear of the investigation, he is drawn in by the lawyer who handled his defense when he was on trial for murder as they both try to prove the obvious suspect in the murder of the developer is innocent. Even his own daughter becomes involved when she inadvertently posts a picture of the murdered developer on her blog.

If you know Toronto, there is the added pleasure of being aware of the many locations where the story takes place. The author also includes current political and social issues facing the politicians of Toronto such as social housing, what to do with the Gardiner Expressway and what measures should we bring in to control the building of the many condos that are starting to deface the city. This is a pleasant read that you will have difficulty putting down. ( )

Former Homicide Detetctive Ari Greene has returned from an extended visit to the UK, bringing with him a very unexpected surprise… the daughter he never knew he had. Instead of returning to Homicide, Ari is working in the construction field. Desirous of nothing more than to make a life that is both comfortable and happy for his daughter, Ari has gone to work for an old high school friend on a downtown development site. It is a day like any other day, until he discovers the body of the site’s developer, the man the city loves to hate, Livingston Fox. Then things start to get a little crazy.

The last time Ari had found a body, he had fled the scene and was subsequently arrested for the murder. He had cleared his name and found the real killer, then left for England. This time Ari was going to make certain there was no such mistake. Unfortunately the discovery will force him right back into a life he wanted to leave far behind, as well as a reconciliation with Daniel Kennicott, his former partner and protégé.

The world of downtown development is far more corrupt than Ari would have thought. It is a world of high stakes and huge gambles, but the pay off can be immense. The web of corruption is utterly amazing to the uninitiated, leaving Ari and Kennicott to battle the deceptive double-dealing industry powers. Fox was reviled by almost everyone in the industry, and there are even shadows of intrigue and mystery surrounding his family. The list of suspects is certainly not difficult to put together.

The plot writhes about like a living thing, taking unexpected turn after unexpected turn. Shadows and secrets abound, both expected and not. While ‘Heart of the City’ isn't what I'd call a heart stopping race for the finish, it is a solid read that must be seen through once it has begun.

Glimpses of Toronto are fruitful throughout the novel, adding a depth of wonderful realism to a fictional work. Rotenberg is one of Toronto’s top criminal lawyers, and while his experience gives him the fodder for some excellent stories, his talent allows him to create some fantastic characters, believable and appealing. The same can be said for the plot line, it is solid and very well paced, reaching a wonderful and not quite expected crescendo at the end.

This is title #5 in the Ari Greene series, however it is a great standalone novel.

Thanks to Netgalley and Simon & Schuster Canada for the ARC