Eyes of the Innocent: A Mystery

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly After a house fire kills two young brothers in a rundown Newark, N.J., neighborhood, Carter Ross of the Newark Eagle-Examiner gets the word to write yet another story about the dangers of space heaters in Parks's enjoyable second mystery featuring the street-smart investigative reporter (after 2009's Faces of the Gone). To complicate a routine assignment, Carter must take beautiful, spacey intern Lauren McMillan (aka "Sweet Thang") to the scene of the tragedy. In a tense confrontation with Akilah Harris, the mother of the two boys, Lauren displays an unexpected talent for getting her to talk. Akilah's hard-luck story could be front-page news if true, but when it begins to fall apart and then dovetails with the disappearance of veteran council member Wendell "Windy" A. Byers Jr., things get hot quickly. Once again, Parks, a former Washington Post reporter, deftly brings the personalities and dynamics of a modern-day city newsroom to life. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

From Booklist A house burns. Two children die. A newspaper reporter finds the house documents have disappeared from the courthouse. The investigation begins, and Parks and his hero, Newark newsman Carter Ross, show us that police and newshound procedures have much in common: knocking on doors, working the phones, staring at dusty paper until the eyes burn. Like other fictional star reporters—Gregory Mcdonald's Fletch and Laura Lippmann's reporter-turned-PI Tess Monaghan—Ross must rout the villains without a badge to flash or the power of officialdom. Also like them, he's a reporter “type”; a veneer of cynicism covers a layer of mush, which in turn covers a core of titanium. The revelations involve the subprime mortgage swindle, a city councilman and his cookie, and a moneyman who knows which politicians are for sale. The novel reads like a bit of investigative journalism: told in reporter's prose, with dollops of humor, suspense, and violence. Like his creator, Ross is aware of the pain in the things he writes about. He's also aware that that makes for darned good reporting. --Don Crinklaw