Mirage Man
Trace Conger
paper $12.99
ebook $0.99

This post is a better fit over at Gumshoes, Gats, and Gams, but that blog isn’t very active at the moment. I’m posting this review here so more people will see it. I’d like to thank Trace Conger for providing me with a review copy.

Mirage Man is a crime novel that’s fast, engaging, and extremely violent.

I loved it.

Conger wrote three novels about PI Finn Harding, which I reviewed here, here, and here. Mirage Man deals with Finn’s brother Conner. It’s the first of a series, and I’m going to be along for the ride. 

Conner worked in military intelligence for twenty years. When he was discharged, he became a fixer for the New York mob. Then he retired to Boston. Unfortunately, like Al Pacino said in Godfather III, “they pull me back in”.

Conner kills a man in his home one evening, a man who is there to kill Conner. At first he thinks it’s about a local gang leader, but then he fins out that the hit was ordered from New York. So Conner heads to the Big Apple to find out who wants him dead, and why.

He ends up in the middle of a turf war, one where multiple people want him dead. The action, the pacing, and the killing, don’t slow down. Don’t read this book before bed unless you can sleep in the next morning. I speak from experience.

I’m not going to say much more than this, because there are some surprises I don’t want to spoil. Trace Conger knows when to yank the rug out from under you just as you think you know what’s going on. Conner Harding is a great protagonist. He’s not a hero, but he’s not an antihero, either. He’s very much a flawed man, which is what makes him such a compelling character.

There are some loose ends which I’m looking forward to seeing tied up in later books. Like I said, this is the first book of a series.

If you’re a fan of David J. West when he’s writing as James Alderdice (waves at David), then you’ll want to check out Trace Conger, and not just Mirage Man. Read the three Mr. Finn books, too. You don’t have to have read them to enjoy Mirage Man. Tough, no-nonsense noir, the way it should be written.