Critical Damage by Robert K. Lewis is a highly recommended gritty crime novel that provides nonstop action and frantic pages turns. It is not for the faint of heart; there is plenty of violence. If you are looking for PI novel that features a flawed antihero who operates in the dark, seedy underside of San Fransisco, then the Mark Mallen series will be right up your alley. The series started with Untold Damage and continues with this second book, Critical Damage.
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Mark Mallen is a former cop and recovering drug addict. He and his friend Gato return in this second book. Two girls are missing and one of them is Gato's sister, Lupe. Lupe is a prostitute, so she may have fallen into trouble due to her own activities, but the other missing girl is the daughter of the mayor. What could these two girls possibly have in common? What Mark discovers is chilling and disgusting - and much bigger and more dangerous than anything Mark has ever tangled with before.

Lewis is a good writer who has the ability to deftly capture an action scene, as well as the dialogue, which makes Critical Damage a captivating novel to read. This is definitely not a cozy mystery, though; the subject matter gets down and dirty as the case progresses into the world of pimps, prostitutes and the criminal underworld.

It might help to read the first novel, Untold Damage, and then this second novel, Critical Damage. There is definitely a third Mark Mallen novel in the future.

My review copy was courtesy of Robert K. Lewis.

Excerpt
issuu.com/llewellyn/docs/9780738736235/9?e=1072528/7015820 ( )

When a friend asks you to help him out, most people will say yes without question. When your estranged spouse asks for help with a private matter, you will do whatever you can. But for ex-cop and ex-junkie Mark Mallen, that means searching for both his friend's call girl sister and the daughter of the mayor of San Francisco. The two requests seem unrelated until Mallen realizes that he's stumbled onto something big and ugly and extremely dangerous. No one is safe.

The tension is palpable and the story moves fast and furiously. Unhappily, it comes to a grinding halt at the very end and leaves a whole slew of questions unanswered. Since this title is the second in the Mark Mallen series, I can only hope that the answers to my questions and a most satisfying ending will occur in the next installment.

Is the third book ready yet? ( )

Found as 2015 Shamus Award Finalist. Series. BOOK not in Merlin. Sample available. ( )