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Spiral by David Lindsey

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The back cover of the book quotes the Library Journal: “As Robert Parker is to Boston, Lindsey is to Houston.” Since I have been feeling a little homesick for Houston, I picked up Spiral — and dug it.

Lindsey’s been kind of hit-or-miss for me, sometimes diving way too deep into the little details and describing things almost to a molecular level. I exaggerate, but if you’ve read some of his other books, you know what I mean.

Spiral, however, was a very cool read.

Detective Stuart Haydon, that surly, deep-thinking cop finds himself with an intriguing mystery on his hands. A dead man turns up with no laces in his shoes and a carpenter’s nail in his forehead. Tied to the nail, on a black string: a large red ant. Lindsey had my attention.

Each chapter pulls the reader deeper into an underworld populated with members of los tecos de choque, a small, right-wing Latin American group of political assassins.

When Haydon’s partner is killed in the crossfire during a shootout with some of the tecos, the rules change and he vows revenge (gee, really?).

Okay, so it’s not an original plot, but the characters populating the story are really well done and Lindsey’s settings don’t get too detailed very often.

Wnat to see what Lindsey has to say about this book? Visit Spiral.

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