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Raymond Donne is an eighth grade teacher in Brooklyn. When one of his students, Frankie Rivas, misses several days of school, he decides to pay him a visit at home to see what is going on. Frankie is a baseball phenomenon and Donne has arranged for him to attend a private high school on scholarship and further develop his talent. He will lose that aid if he becomes truant. Frankie lives in an apartment with his grandmother and younger sister. When Raymond calls upon them, he finds that both children have gone to stay with their father. When he goes to the father's place, he finds him dead and both children missing. Donne was formerly a cop who left the force because of an on-the-job injury; his uncle is still high in the ranks in the department. He starts checking into things on his own, sharing what he finds with the lead detective on the case, Royce. However, Raymond often feels that the police aren't doing enough and are merely looking into obvious leads. He becomes more and more engaged, to the point where several people warn him about his over-involvement. It is no longer his job to be a detective; he steps way over the line as he moves forward. The fact that he continues to investigate despite being told directly not to was the one thing in the book that really bothered me. It could be said that he is only doing what needs to be done; however, it is not his responsibility to bring the case to a conclusion. In fact, he engages in quite a bit of illegal activity—breaking and entering, withholding evidence from the police, impersonating a cop, and so on. Although Donne is a talented teacher who obviously cares about the students in his class, he can be quite abrasive at times. He has a lot of issues from his time as a cop, and he's had a hard time living a fulfilling life as a result. The other characters in the book are similarly well drawn, from his unlikely sidekick in the investigation to an obnoxious cop who plagues Donne. SACRIFICE FLY is Tim O'Mara's first book. Despite the title, the book is not focused on baseball at all. It seems that this is destined to be a series, which makes me wonder how he will handle the issue of Donne's career. He cannot play the role of cop without being one. O'Mara does a fine job of depicting life in Brooklyn, and the dialogue is very authentic. He is an excellent writer who, in addition to creating an intriguing protagonist, has developed a fine plot in a well-drawn setting. § Formerly a training development manager for a large company, Maddy is now retired and continues to enable the addiction of crime fiction fans as owner of the online discussion group, 4 Mystery Addicts(4MA), while avidly reading in every possible free moment herself.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, November 2012
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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