8797999's review against another edition
3.0
This was a decent read but I didn't care much for it, the plot and the characters.
mjatuw's review against another edition
3.0
Dallas setting ... cops and gang members. Pretty decent. Good Dallas follow up to 11/22/63 (parkland hospital)
vkemp's review
4.0
After the shoot-out in West Texas, featured in The Contractors, Jon Cantrell has been hired by an East Coast law firm to facilitate investigations in Dallas. His on-again/off-again girlfriend, Piper, is now a Dallas police officer. Assistant Chief Raul Delgado also dates Piper and he asks Jon in look into the disappearance of a young African-American boy, Tremont Washington. Tremont was the son of a friend of Jon's, so he is happy to oblige. The only problem is Jon gets caught up in a vigilante killer, working to rid the streets of Dallas of low-lifes. Jon and Piper keep getting pulled together, even though both of them know it is not a good idea for them to be a couple. Lots of action in this well-written and enjoyable look at crime on the mean streets of Dallas TX.
samhouston's review
4.0
Harry Hunsicker is a Dallas-based writer whose five crime novels, although they feature two different Mr. Fix-It-type characters, have all been set in that city. The first three books feature Lee Henry Oswald, a man whose very name is certain to cause him problems in a city still scarred by one of the most infamous political assassinations in American history. The main character of Hunsicker’s two most recent books, including The Shadow Boys, is one John Cantrell – ex-cop, ex-DEA contractor – who shares Mr. Oswald’s line of work.
As The Shadow Boys opens, John Cantrell is happy enough with his new job, one in which he “fixes” problems for a local law firm. Cantrell is good at making problems go away, something that the firm and its clients appreciate. But when Piper, Cantrell’s ex-girlfriend, asks him to sit down with a high-ranking Dallas cop who needs some help, things get complicated fast. Raul Delgado, the Dallas white-collar cop in question, is looking for a little boy who has gone missing, but he would rather not involve the Dallas Police Department in his search for the boy.
Delgado, as it turns out, has a soft spot for poor kids growing up on the streets of Dallas because years earlier he himself had been one of those kids. He, though, was one of the lucky ones. Someone cared enough about kids like him to offer him a chance at a different future, and now, forty years after he saw his brother die at the hands of a racist Dallas cop, Delgado is one of the highest ranking policemen in the entire city.
Cantrell, largely because he still has a thing for his ex, reluctantly agrees to search for the missing boy. But, in the meantime, someone in Dallas has taken it upon himself to clean up the streets vigilante-style, and when that vigilante becomes aware of Cantrell’s search for the missing boy, part of Dallas turns into a war zone. Is the missing boy somehow tied to this killer? All Cantrell knows is that, if he is to survive long enough to find out, it is probably more important that he find the shooter than the missing boy.
Hunsicker takes the reader on quite a ride in The Shadow Boys. There is no shortage of suspects – or for that matter, of good guys - in this noirish thriller, and readers failing to pay attention to plot and character development could get lost along the way. Keep that from happening…and this one will be a fun read.
As The Shadow Boys opens, John Cantrell is happy enough with his new job, one in which he “fixes” problems for a local law firm. Cantrell is good at making problems go away, something that the firm and its clients appreciate. But when Piper, Cantrell’s ex-girlfriend, asks him to sit down with a high-ranking Dallas cop who needs some help, things get complicated fast. Raul Delgado, the Dallas white-collar cop in question, is looking for a little boy who has gone missing, but he would rather not involve the Dallas Police Department in his search for the boy.
Delgado, as it turns out, has a soft spot for poor kids growing up on the streets of Dallas because years earlier he himself had been one of those kids. He, though, was one of the lucky ones. Someone cared enough about kids like him to offer him a chance at a different future, and now, forty years after he saw his brother die at the hands of a racist Dallas cop, Delgado is one of the highest ranking policemen in the entire city.
Cantrell, largely because he still has a thing for his ex, reluctantly agrees to search for the missing boy. But, in the meantime, someone in Dallas has taken it upon himself to clean up the streets vigilante-style, and when that vigilante becomes aware of Cantrell’s search for the missing boy, part of Dallas turns into a war zone. Is the missing boy somehow tied to this killer? All Cantrell knows is that, if he is to survive long enough to find out, it is probably more important that he find the shooter than the missing boy.
Hunsicker takes the reader on quite a ride in The Shadow Boys. There is no shortage of suspects – or for that matter, of good guys - in this noirish thriller, and readers failing to pay attention to plot and character development could get lost along the way. Keep that from happening…and this one will be a fun read.
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