Harry Bosch, Matt Scudder and now Frank Behr. Seriously, if you like Lawrence Block and Michael Connelly, David Levien's City Of The Sun is required reading. Behr is smart, tough, but most important, real--Not some pulped up PI who reads like a fifth generation Silly-Putty copy of Chandler, Hammett or Cain. The book is propulsive but also makes you stop and absorb, like the best writing of the genre does. I've read it twice, and can't wait for Levien to get cracking on the next one.

Twelve-year-old Jamie Gabriel lives a completely normal life. His dad sells insurance, his mom is a stay-at-home mother, and he has a paper route which he rides on his bike. It's all very mundane and average, in suburban Indianapolis, right down to the day that he sets out to ride his paper route and never gets to school, or back home at the end of the day. Paul and Carol Gabriel, the parents, are frantic at first, but as it becomes apparent that the police are essentially not going to strain themselves to find what they consider a runaway, their emotions turn to anger and frustration.

After a little more than a year, Paul hears about private detective Frank Behr, who used to work on the local police department. Behr has demons of his own, baggage that he carries that has dented his personality pretty badly, but once he takes the case he doggedly follows the thinnest of leads, searching for clues and discovering information that the police haven't even imagined existed. As he works his way through the case, Paul wants to help, and eventually Frank allows him to.

I found this to be one of the better detective novels I've read in recent years, certainly the best among debuts. It's suspenseful, intelligent, and full of interesting characters, and the plot just rolls right along. I enjoyed City of the Sun a great deal, and I recommend it highly. A great first book.

This book is an explosive corker... I ripped through it in two days. Levien knows how to make you race through pages, ratcheting up the suspense with each new revelation. But it's his characters that really pop... you feel every emotion they're feeling and are entirely invested in their struggles.

I loved it... it's the perfect airplane book. Behr is a character who will be around for a long time.