Stephen Jay Schwartz

Second in a series of police procedurals (very loosely defined) after Boulevard, this book can’t truly be called “noir” as there is a semblance of hope at the end, but it’s about as black as one can get.

Hayden Glass, an LAPD Robbery-Homicide detective is a sex addict. After witnessing the abduction of a hooker whom he thought liked him (he learns later what an act it was,) and with whom he thought he was in love (he has difficulty separating love from lust) he follows her abductors to San Francisco where he becomes mired in a morass of crooked cops, really evil Russian mobster/pimps, and the FBI, all of whom have differing motives for getting the girl back. It seems she was a witness to a murder that would implicate a high-ranking police officer. The mobsters want her for blackmail and the Feebs need her to bring down the crooked cops. Hayden feels impelled to save her, although his motives are anything but pure. Toward the end of the novel, one of the Russians makes this clear, “Would you like to know what you are to me, Detective? You’re my demographic. You’re the reason these girls exist. I simply supply the demand. If there weren’t a market for this, I wouldn’t be here. You’re the market. I can’t believe you don’t get that. You’ve got to be the stupidest son of a bitch I’ve ever—”

If you are in any way offended by explicit sex or extreme violence, avoid this book. I’m not, but did find the gory finale excessive if not unbelievable. Still, Schwartz has created a very sympathetic and tormented character. It will be fascinating to watch him develop in what I hope will be a long-running series.… (mais)

Really an excellent police procedural reminiscent of Michael Connelly. Hayden Glass is a Robbery Homicide detective​​​​​ assigned to the murder of a politically powerful Councilman's daughter. Hayden is also a recovering sex addict who attends meetings of a group similar to AA so the audience gets a sense of deja vu thinking one might be reading a Lawrence Block Matt Scudder novel albeit with a different emphasis. Unfortunately, Hayden's presence in the group has made some of the members uncomfortable because he's a cop and they no longer feel safe anymore since their addiction involves illegal activity, and feeling safe is essential to their recovery strategy.

Hayden is tossed from his group and is then forced to drive down streets filled with transvestite, massage parlors and triple x movies and and hooker temptations. Stressed out by the rejection and feeling increasingly powerless to stop the murders that appear related, Hayden succumbs to the temptations. Schwartz describes these enticements as "streets like dirty brown rivers with soft, inviting quicksand banks. A step in the water left dark oily residue like liquid tobacco that came off slow leaving hives in its wake. The current unforgiving and relentless in its crusade to sink a man."

Soon some little coincidences reveal to Hayden that all the murders are linked to him and his sex addiction. It appears that his former partner, in bed recovering from a stroke, may hold the key to unreaveling the mystery, as Hayden is tormented by knowing that the longer he hides the connection from his colleagues, the more likely someone else may be killed.

Hayden is a much darker Hieronymus Bosch; this author bears watching. A real page-turner.… (mais)

“Beat” is the story of Hayden Glass, a LA Robbery/Homicide detective who falls in lust with a sex-slave in San Francisco. He subsequently becomes embroiled in a war between rival factions of the Russian mob as he attempts to rescue the young hooker. Much of the angst and sub-plotting of this book is dependent upon Schwartz’s previous novel “Boulevard,” but reading the previous installment is not necessary as the author beats you over the head with the events of the previous such that by the end of the novel you’ll feel like you read both of them at once.

As an earlier reviewer said, the novel reads like an action movie. Part of that is because the author is in love with imagery, and it translates into an overabundance of descriptions, adjectives, and adverbs. In fact, I felt that the pacing of the narrative was inhibited somewhat because of the over-abundance of descriptions. And in a thriller, pacing is everything (the book was billed as a mystery, but stylistically it’s really not).

The plot and action and characters were all pretty decent. Nothing earth-shattering, but not horrible either. The main character frustrated me, since he seemed to be afflicted with a chronic case of idiot most of the time. But then again that was probably a reflection of his addictive personality (he’s a sex-addict, after all), so it’s understandable. Probably the most authentic part of the book were Schwartz’s descriptions of sex, sexuality, and sex-addiction. It gets pretty graphic in certain parts—though not pornographic by any means—and I felt that these passages were the most honest, well-written, and insightful in the book.

Good descriptions of sex addiction, however, do not a successful thriller make. For me the novel simply didn’t have the correct plotting and pacing and structure to make it a true page turner. It wasn’t a completely horrible book, but then again it wasn’t a great book either. That’s why I gave it 3 stars.… (mais)