This is a dark story set in Toronto's gay community from which several gay men have disappeared. Dan Sharp, a gay private investigator who specializes in locating missing persons, is hired by a pair of Muslim brothers to find their third brother. This search takes Dan through some sordid parts of the gay community, for example the gay porn business run by some unsavoury characters. Working through his broad range of contacts Dan discovers a pattern to the disappearances: most of the men are closeted Muslim men who engage in anonymous sexual hook ups often involving bondage. Dan's clients did not know their brother was gay until they went through his belongings after he disappeared. Their ethnic and religious homophobia plays a big part in the story. Dan pursues several leads and eventually he finds a serial killer on the loose, despite being misled by some of his close friends.
There's a sombre theme of alienation running through the story as Dan's inquiries take him through the gay community and the marginalized members of it. In describing a mid-week visit to a gay bar, Dan the narrator captures this view:
"The patrons were mostly men, with here and there a woman, all of whom shared one quality: loneliness. Young, old, and in-between, these were the ones who couldn't bear their empty rooms and empty beds.....people who went out mid-week were likelier targets, more desperate for company and less likely to be accompanied by friends. A predator's dream, in other words."
As Dan discovers, pure evil does exist, waiting often in plain sight to trap the unwary.
There's a graphic description of an autopsy that may upset some sensitive readers. It is somewhat gratuitous, except to mark the pathologist as an eccentric character. Perhaps he will re-appear in future Dan Sharp stories.
In this story, Dan is not distracted by personal issues as he has been in some of the other books in the series. The result is that this is plain and simple a good detective story, with a suspenseful and dramatic conclusion. Dan has come into his own as a detective. Recommended
Thanks to Dundurn and Netgalley for providing me an advance reading copy of the eBook for this novel. The comments are my own. ( )