Broken Machines

Rating:
Summary: Gritty Debut
Review: As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I was pleasantly impressed by Michael I. Leahey's BROKEN MACHINES. Mr. Leahey's first mystery deals with serious themes such as drug addiction, urban prostitution, and immigrant sweatshops. The novel also introduces a fresh team of sleuths--J.J. Donovan and Dr. Boris Koulomzin. Think of an Archie Goodwin/Nero Wolfe pairing for the contemporary world. The plot involves a social worker who brings the plight of Clifford Brice to Donovan's attention. Clifford is a boy whose mother was murdered while hooking in Brooklyn. Another murder follows, as does an attempt on the boy's life. Leahey's world is a gritty one, but he has a pair of humane and winning sleuths. Fine debut. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: a nice surprise
Review: I found this book to be really good. It kept me on the edge of my seat from the beginning. It really keeps you guessing until the end.
I really like this book because it has a good description of New York. It makes you wonder if this author is really from Brooklyn because he talks about some of the streets in Brooklyn!

Rating:
Summary: This Darkly Comic, New York Mystery is a Treat
Review: Michael I. Leahey's Broken Machines is a skillful and entertaining New York crime novel, that grabbed me right at its poignant tragic prologue, and held on through its righteously satisfying epilogue. Peopled by some truly scurrilous and vulgar New Yorkers, and their honorable and stalwart counterparts, this book delivers the goods.

The street savvy, literate, tough but tender hero J.J. Donovan, who knows his Veuve Cliquot, and appreciates a good vodka-soaked Spanish olive as much as the next guy, is our guide through Upper Manhattan, and the brutal streets of East New York Brooklyn. Along with Donovan for the ride is his partner, friend and next-door neighbor Dr. Boris Koulomzin, a brilliant, drolly eccentric bear of a man who rarely ventures outdoors before the sun sets. These two are consultants, who offer their services to people "who think they've run out of options". People whose "problems the legal system has either created, made worse, or is incapable of addressing". In Boris and J.J. Leahey gives us a two great characters who could in time, equal Nero Wolfe and Archie, or Travis McGee and Meyer. I look forward to following their further adventures.

In this first one, the story of Donovan's quest for a killer, and his uncovering of the scamming of the manufacturing plant where he goes to work undercover, we're treated to a tightly constructed mystery. This is Michael Leahey's first novel, and he fills the pages with dozens of truly engaging characters in one great New York scene after another. One of my favorites happens on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, and it reveals where Mr. Leahey's local baseball allegiances lie. There are some truly funny scenes, and some of real tension and high human drama. A good hard-hitting, wise, funny and satisfying story this is.

I'm ready to read the next J.J Donovan tale, and hope there are many more to come.