El Bronx

New York Mayor Isaac Sidel is up in the Bronx, watching a baseball game. The street wise Mayor knows that just outside the ballpark are run down neighborhoods, filled with junkies of all ages. The gangs own the borough with the dead ones immortalized by Alyoshas, a pre-teen graffiti artist. The owner of the Yankees plan to move the team, even though Isaac hopes to talk him out of it. The owner is helped by the power-hungry father of Marianna Storm, a child who tries to help the Mayor in his fight against her father. Isaac soon realizes greed is the real game. A phoney corporation is pulling off a land scam that brings together strange partners, who all share two things in common. They want to make a large killing at any cost and want to get rid of Isaac, who is in the way. Only hiz honor the mayor can stop them, but this group is willing to do anything to feed their avarice thirst. EL BRONX is the ninth Mayor Sidel novel and like the previous eight is a fabulous, fast-paced book. As good as the others are (they all are very good), this may be the best one yet because it is extremely complex without losing the ability to tell an intriguing tale. If the reader wants to understand the mean streets of New York from their living room, Jerome Charyn's series is one of the best ways to go a streeting. Harriet Klausner