Michael Cook’s FalconClaw Fraternal takes us back to Philadelphia, the 39th Precinct, and to our old friend, Detective Frank Calazzo. Unfortunately, it is no longer Frank’s Philadelphia. Killers have taken the town.
Talon and Genesis, abandoned kids, working from abandoned buildings have taken ownership of the shadows and the streets. By striking down the protectors, the killers seize the keys to the city.
This is Cook’s fourth book in his 39th Precinct series. And like the three previous books, it is completely different in tone. The first book, Old Man Winter is a cozy with an edge. The second book, Sleep Room is an old-school procedural while the third, Säters, was a white-knuckle thriller.
But Fraternal is a thing of its own that I’m almost scared to name for fear of spoiling the turns. Cook crosses genres and to call the book by any one of those genres discounts the punch of the others. Suffice to say, Fraternal is NOT a cozy. Nor is it a book for the faint of heart. The violence here is graphic and visceral. It is also far more immediate.
Like Frank and Jon “Bones” Sullivan, ( Frank’s new partner) the cops, Talon and Genesis the killers, are all bound by the past. All wounded by family horror, loss, and pain. While the previous books gave us bits and pieces of familiar comfort in steamed-heat and joint-aching cold on snowy mornings, winter-desolation of dread permeates Fraternity, even in mid-May where we begin. The specter of death dogs Frank’s heels as he hunts the killers hunting him and other police through the dark-night Philly streets.
Every killing, every dead cop takes a toll on Frank, already stretched to his limits. Even as his friends Doug Cantrell and Captain Beatrice Jackson attempt to save him, Frank dives deeper into his investigation. Truly, he has nothing else. Exiled from his family home, alienated from new cops stumping for political advancement and old cops who see Frank as a bad luck, all he has is the hunt for the killers before they kill anymore of his family-in-blue.
That is both Fraternal’s greatest strength and heart-aching weakness—isolation. No one is safe and Cook deftly reminds us of this with every twist and turn. We miss Penny (Frank’s wife and one-time police partner) as much as Frank does. His pain is our pain as well.
But between sleeping in cars and dodging intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and fears, Frank hunts the hunters. The job, the only handle on life and his mental health, keeps Frank moving even as it takes years off his life. Therein lies Cook’s other balancing act: character development and writing development.
Cook delivers the readers’ expectations. Frank Collazo is steadfast and dedicated; just as we remember him. But Frank’s world has shifted. Cook’s writing reflects the shift, the pain, and the trauma. We feel it right along Frank.
But where previous books were target-locked on the hunters, Frank and Penny, here we never lose touch with the predators. As a result we also get the most fully fleshed out villains in Cook’s repertoire.
A note on tone. This a composite of my reviews of The Sleep Room and Säters:
While the tone is different, the focus, and the killer are completely different, what Cook has retained is his sensibility for the reader. There is violence, (more so than in OMW) but this is no gore-fest. While there is coarse language, indeed, grown-up discussions, there is no explicit sexual scenes or any sexual violence.
Mostly, this still holds true. The violence here is more emotional than in previous books. But do
note, this is not a cozy.
Here, Cook steps out on the tightrope of his story and trusts his balance as a storyteller. It’s a risk that pays off in a taut visceral story.
What has not changed is the pace. Four-hundred pages fly by. Philadelphia natives will delight at recognizing factual events and factual people that fill out this work of fiction. Ultimately, FalconClaw Fraternal is a thrilling read for a dark and stormy night. Check it out here.
The image above belongs to Michael Cook. Its use here for educational/instructional purposes as covered by the Fair Use Doctrine.
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