Slow Motion Riot

I had read this book in paperback and loved it. When I found out someone had done the book on audio I had to hear it and it was even better than the written copy good job Blackstone !!

This novel is not just the story of the idealist probation officer Steven Baum versus the sociopath crack addict and drug dealer Darryl King but a story of a city (New York) where the melting pot society is divided by races, greed, social classes, poverty, corruption and absence of moral values. Most than a "slow motion riot", the author picture a city sat on a time bomb where the criminality, violence and corruption are keep at bay or ignored with some "legal" methods without any intention of erradicate it, where minorities lost hope in the system and are induced to criminal activities and delinquency because of unemployment, low education rates, poverty, low salaries, dependency of social aid and segregation. A very explicit message for those who still dream with a more equalitarian society and for those who already lost hope in society and are paying the consequences of that cruel reality.

Now that I have read Peter Blauner, I will be buying anything of his that I can find. He is a wonderful writer, and this is the type of book you read and wonder why this man is not at least as big as, say, Jonathan Kellerman. The main character, Steven Baum, is a probation officer who is a good man living in a gritty world, supported by the idea he can make a difference. Blauner writes an extremely likeable and realistic character in Baum, who is a bit downtrodden overall but a fighter and a realist. His nemesis, Darryl King, is one of the scariest characters I have come across in a book. Blauner does a wonderfully subtle job of "evilizing" this character. This man can write, plain and simple, and I am glad to have found such a talent.

A young New York City probation officer wages a daily struggle between idealism and cynicism, while being confronted with the wild menagerie of urban criminal life, both high and low. Parts of this book terrified me while other sections had me laughing out loud. Always tense and suspenseful, somehow dreamy and utterly real at the same time. Or maybe so real that it seemed dream-like. Makes most other so-called crime fiction look like silly posturing. Highly recommended.

Slow Motion Riot is one of the best books I've read in the last two years. The story is terryfying and doesn't let go of you for a second. Best part about it is the note perfect dialogue of the characters. Really a good, good book. Some of the images Blauner depicts will stay with me for a long time. I will definitely read it again!