Taming the Alien

Cops Roberts and Brant come back swinging in book two of the hip, violent and funny crime novel trilogy set on the mean streets of southeast London (Publishers Weekly). South Londons Chief Inspector Roberts and his partner, the reckless and thuggish Irish Detective Sergeant Brant, are at odds with who has it worse: Roberts, with a mortgage in Dulwich, a pregnant daughter in boarding school, and a dire medical diagnosis; or Brant, relegated to desk duty after getting knifed in the back, and living to see his complete Ed McBain collection destroyed by a psycho with a baseball bat. That particular nut job has been dubbed the Alien, a hit man so named for carrying out a skull-smashing job while watching Ridley Scotts sci-fi classic, and hanging around in the spatter to finish the film. But this time the carnage isnt confined to southeast London. As Brant heads to New York by way of Dublin to catch the couple who knifed him and the Alien goes to San Francisco to pay a surprise visit to his former girlfriend, Bruens broad, brutal canvas once again shows why hes been hailed as one of the most original and innovative noir voices of the last two decades (Los Angeles Times Book Review).