From Publishers Weekly Although Hamill's second Bobby Emmet novel (after Three Quarters) is not without a measure of charm， its brutality at times can be hard to take. Bobby's improbably noxious lawyer， Izzy Gleason， looks to be the fall guy for the murder of a married couple. Eddie and Sally McCoy had the misfortune to resist moving out of their rent-controlled apartment in a building that is the proposed site for the terminal to a New York City offshore gambling casino?and Izzy is the attorney for the building's owner. Ex-cop Bobby， now a P.I.， owes Izzy a favor and must strive to clear him. As he does， three religious leaders operate a lucrative gambling operation for purely humanitarian purposes， and gorgeous women?including Bobby's wildly wealthy ex-wife， a tennis star and a confused nun?throw themselves at him. Hamill (who pens the "Show People" column in the New York Daily News) sometimes allows noir posturing to trump good sense: If a woman is awakened by a killer at 3:57 a.m.， would she really be wearing mascara that could smear and make her eyes "look like little muddy graves"? Would a man with a gun shoved into his mouth really contemplate how "only a killer wears gloves in July"? Still， Hamill has a knack for unflinching scenes of extreme brutality， and he makes an effort to humanize his hero， dwelling on Bobby's weekend， divorced-dad relationship with his daughter. Some readers may feel that the novel's excesses are morally redeemed by Bobby's trenchant good-guy posture; others may find the hero too one-dimensional to be convincing. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information， Inc. Review Booklist Readers will be as drawn to this complex hero as they are to the compelling plot....Hamill does everything right -- a sure bet for any mystery collection. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. See all Editorial Reviews