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DIAMOND EYE
by Arthur Rosenfeld
Forge, July 2002
320 pages
$23.95
ISBN: 0312878710


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

Inspector Max Diamond is a United States Postal Inspector. When my local SinC chapter invited a postal inspector to speak to us, I had no idea what sort of cases they dealt with. It was the speaker who mentioned this book and suggested I might get some ideas from it. And the information about postal inspectors and how they operate was captivating. They do all sorts of things from protecting postal deliverers from irate home owners to investigating illegal substances that have gone through the mail. They also do internal investigations and any other sort which involves the mail.

Diamond is horrified when, while viewing some confiscated pornographic tapes, he sees one which includes both child pornography and murder. Although his supervisor is not too certain that the scenes were not contrived, when the second and then the third film materializes, no one can doubt. At the same time, Diamond is concerned because a onetime friend of his from college, with whom he had lost touch, had died in a freak accident at home. At the funeral he sees his old girl friend and the other two men who, with Diamond and the dead man, once formed a clique. When a second classmate dies also from a bizarre accident, Diamond is certain it is murder and he uses his investigative skills to uncover the killer.

The book is set in Florida, and Rosenfeld attempts to create the zany Florida setting of, say Carl Hiassen. He only partially succeeds for it is only faintly outrageous. It reminded me in many ways of a comic book story. The characters are two dimensional only and often motivation seems murky. They have quirks instead of personalities. There are plenty of "pows" and "pops," violence that seems to leave no trace on anyone. Diamond himself is a devotee of Chinese arts of self defense and feels competent to take on anyone, including the biggest gangster in South Florida. He keeps as a pet a Galapagos tortoise (is this legal?) who lives on his balcony and eats vegetables.

But the information about the postal inspection service is most intriguing and I think worth the somewhat questionable writing and characterization to learn. In addition the plotting is fairly well done and the ending was satisfying. Unfortunately much of the information is not very well incorporated into the story and when it is not appearing to be a comic book, the book reads like a textbook instead of a novel. This is, however, a first book and perhaps, if the series continues, it will improve.

Reviewed by Sally A. Fellows, March 2002

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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