What You Wish for

Rating:
Summary: I wish for better editing
Review: An exciting story with two major crimes interwoven, with a convincing love interest included. Great police action and interaction with the FBI. Interesting descriptions of the techniques of interrogation.

But it is filled with errors that a good editor would have caught. One example: Just at the climax of the search for Foley's daughter, it is stated that Foley, encountering the woman involved in his daughter's kidnapping, has no way to restrain her. No handcuffs, nylon ties, nothing. So he just chases her away. Two pages and only minutes later, he grabs the male kidnapper, and handcuffs him to a banister. Other errors irritate and break the reader's submersion in a gripping tale.

Nonetheless, you will enjoy the book.

Rating:
Summary: Gritty and hard-hitting police procedural.
Review: David Cray's latest novel, "What You Wish For," focuses on two investigations. Julia Brennan, a captain in the New York City Police Department, is looking for the person who brutally murdered an elderly and wealthy widow, Adeline Rose. At the same time, Julia's lover, an ex-cop named Peter Foley, is searching for his daughter, Patti, who was snatched from a day care center five years earlier. Peter has spent a great deal of time infiltrating pedophile networks in an effort to get a lead on Patti's whereabouts.

Julia is a rising star in the police department. By tying herself to Peter, Julia may be placing her own career in jeopardy. Peter is known as a loose cannon who will do anything to reclaim his daughter from the monster who kidnapped her. Although Julia wants to rise high in the ranks of the NYPD, she refuses to abandon Peter, and she empathizes with his desperation to find his little girl.

Cray's book is sharp, fast-moving and, at times, harsh. The criminals in "What You Wish For" display some of the most reprehensible traits that humans are prone to, including betrayal, lust, greed, violence and hatred. However, Cray tempers this negative view of humanity with his depiction of the enormous love that Julia and Peter have for one another and for their children. It is this strong bond that has enabled the couple to weather some very difficult times.

"What You Wish For" is a realistic and gripping thriller. It will have you turning pages quickly to find out how the two investigations play out. Peter Foley and Julia Brennan are vivid and intense characters, and the secondary characters are equally well drawn. Cray's dialogue and plotting are crisp and intelligent, and he maintains a high level of suspense throughout this well-written and highly recommended novel.

Rating:
Summary: I wish for better editing
Review: NYPD captain, Julia Brennan, commanding officer of the district attorney's sex crime unit, knew the crime scene would be bad. The very rich and elderly, Adeline Rose, was found stabbed, slashed and bloody in her upper east side bedroom; at first glance, a burglary gone very wrong. But, Julia realizes almost immediately that this was no burglary. The motive for the crime was money, plain and simple, and within twenty-four hours she has three good suspects pinned down. At the same time, her lover and ex-undercover cop, Peter Foley, is following a new and important lead of his own. He has spent the last five years trying to find his kidnapped daughter, Patti, in the seedy and desperate underworld of pedophiles and child pornography. It looks like he's finally found the proof he's been looking for... that Patti, now eleven, is still alive, and possibly close by..... David Cray brings back two of his most engaging characters, as he weaves these two intriguing and seemingly unrelated story lines toward their stunning conclusion, in this compelling and satisfying sequel to last year's Little Girl Blue. This is a thriller that has it all... a tight, tense, and suspenseful story line filled with vivid and riveting scenes, crisp and entertaining writing, and brilliant characterizations. But it's Mr Cray's indepth research and great attention to detail that really adds credibility to the story, and by the time you've finished the first chapter, you'll be hooked for sure. For those new to master storyteller, David Cray, make sure you go back and read his earlier novels, Bad Lawyer and Little Girl Blue. For those who are already fans, What You Wish For is about to keep you up reading all night.

Rating:
Summary: Tight, Tense, and Compelling.....
Review: NYPD captain, Julia Brennan, commanding officer of the district attorney's sex crime unit, knew the crime scene would be bad. The very rich and elderly, Adeline Rose, was found stabbed, slashed and bloody in her upper east side bedroom; at first glance, a burglary gone very wrong. But, Julia realizes almost immediately that this was no burglary. The motive for the crime was money, plain and simple, and within twenty-four hours she has three good suspects pinned down. At the same time, her lover and ex-undercover cop, Peter Foley, is following a new and important lead of his own. He has spent the last five years trying to find his kidnapped daughter, Patti, in the seedy and desperate underworld of pedophiles and child pornography. It looks like he's finally found the proof he's been looking for... that Patti, now eleven, is still alive, and possibly close by..... David Cray brings back two of his most engaging characters, as he weaves these two intriguing and seemingly unrelated story lines toward their stunning conclusion, in this compelling and satisfying sequel to last year's Little Girl Blue. This is a thriller that has it all... a tight, tense, and suspenseful story line filled with vivid and riveting scenes, crisp and entertaining writing, and brilliant characterizations. But it's Mr Cray's indepth research and great attention to detail that really adds credibility to the story, and by the time you've finished the first chapter, you'll be hooked for sure. For those new to master storyteller, David Cray, make sure you go back and read his earlier novels, Bad Lawyer and Little Girl Blue. For those who are already fans, What You Wish For is about to keep you up reading all night.

Rating:
Summary: Better Than The Bestsellers
Review: This book, along with LITTEL GIRL BLUE, are the most extraordinary crime novels I have read. I am in law enforcement and the accuracy of procedures, personalities of characters, police politics, and the judicial system are so accurate its uncanny. These two books look past the plot into the depth of the characters. I have never been more entertained. Please continue to keep the lives of Julia and Peter coming to us through your wonderful writing.

Rating:
Summary: The Hunt Revisited
Review: What You Wish For picks up its characters and themes from one of David Cray's earlier efforts - Little Girl Blue. Peter Foley, an ex-cop turned crusader who hunts throught the underground world of child abuse seeking his kidnapped daughter and whatever justice he can extract from the monstous evil he sees. And Julia Brennan, not promoted to Captain of the Sex Crimes Unit, who is learning to navigate the difficult waters of police politics while fielding a case where the perpetrator gives in too easily.

While the two story arcs in the book run independently, the lives of Brennan and Foley meet and touch at all levels, their seperate quests stress the relationship, but somehow fail to break it. Even when Foley distances himself to protect Julia from the effects of his investigation and she becomes so wrapped up in her own hunt that she barely notices that Foley hasn't returned her calls. One of Cray's more interesting approaches is to let his main characters have lives that share commonality and values but can proceed independently when needed.

Julia's case, the effort to solve the violent murder of an elderly, wealthy, and unpleasant woman offers a unique focus on a part of investigation that is usually slighted in procedurals - the questioning of a suspect. This is a world of subtle clues and sometimes not-so-subtle techniques and Cray does a great job of portraying the process. He captures both the gripping and tedious elements of the process graphically.

Foley's hunt is on it's last stretch. He has found a porno video in which his daughter appears. He pursues one faint clue after another with little regard for 'correct' procedure - always nearly out of control, and can cross the boundary without warning. In the end he must confront a fathers worst nightmare - his own insecurity about whether finding his daughter might be worse than not finding her.

While Cray often borders on writing a noir novel, he never quite crosses over into that territory. Instead he distracts the reader from the grim nature of the crimes with a flurry of details. While the overall writing of the story is excellent, sometimes this device produces more confusion than intensity, especially when the book is really two unrelated stories about related characters. It would have been more satisfactory has there been a closer connection, or if the conflict had produced more of a clash of wills.

Even so this was a readable and interesting book, but a bit more loosely written than I would have liked it to be. The focus is diffuse, but the subject matter is compelling. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: The Hunt Revisited
Review: What You Wish For picks up its characters and themes from one of David Cray's earlier efforts - Little Girl Blue. Peter Foley, an ex-cop turned crusader who hunts throught the underground world of child abuse seeking his kidnapped daughter and whatever justice he can extract from the monstous evil he sees. And Julia Brennan, not promoted to Captain of the Sex Crimes Unit, who is learning to navigate the difficult waters of police politics while fielding a case where the perpetrator gives in too easily.

While the two story arcs in the book run independently, the lives of Brennan and Foley meet and touch at all levels, their seperate quests stress the relationship, but somehow fail to break it. Even when Foley distances himself to protect Julia from the effects of his investigation and she becomes so wrapped up in her own hunt that she barely notices that Foley hasn't returned her calls. One of Cray's more interesting approaches is to let his main characters have lives that share commonality and values but can proceed independently when needed.

Julia's case, the effort to solve the violent murder of an elderly, wealthy, and unpleasant woman offers a unique focus on a part of investigation that is usually slighted in procedurals - the questioning of a suspect. This is a world of subtle clues and sometimes not-so-subtle techniques and Cray does a great job of portraying the process. He captures both the gripping and tedious elements of the process graphically.

Foley's hunt is on it's last stretch. He has found a porno video in which his daughter appears. He pursues one faint clue after another with little regard for 'correct' procedure - always nearly out of control, and can cross the boundary without warning. In the end he must confront a fathers worst nightmare - his own insecurity about whether finding his daughter might be worse than not finding her.

While Cray often borders on writing a noir novel, he never quite crosses over into that territory. Instead he distracts the reader from the grim nature of the crimes with a flurry of details. While the overall writing of the story is excellent, sometimes this device produces more confusion than intensity, especially when the book is really two unrelated stories about related characters. It would have been more satisfactory has there been a closer connection, or if the conflict had produced more of a clash of wills.

Even so this was a readable and interesting book, but a bit more loosely written than I would have liked it to be. The focus is diffuse, but the subject matter is compelling. Recommended.