Review: 'Dead Even' will delight and amaze you.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 4, 2011
'Dead Even' by crime fiction author Frank Zafiro is an anthology of 15 stories about a variety of characters who live in River City, a slightly fictionalized version of Spokane, Washington where colorful gangsters operate alongside the inept small-time crooks people from the real Spokane know all too well.Several characters from the River City novel "And Every Man Has to Die" either appear in these stories or get mentioned at some point in the collection, so anyone who enjoyed that book should read this one.Zafiro came up with an incredibly cool structure for "Dead Even."  The stories are grouped into four sections by character, with an introduction before each section that provides insights into why he likes writing about them and interesting background on the stories.If the stories are read in the intended order, details start building up into a sort of meta-novel.  Plot elements from earlier stories have an impact on things that happen later, and alternate versions of events given from other characters' perspectives add new layers of meaning to earlier scenes.Each section also has a different tone.  The three Katie MacLeod stories are similar in style to "And Every Man Has to Die."  Two of them are set around Christmas and Zafiro does a great job of being appropriate for the holiday season while writing about a bunch of rough-edged patrol officers dealing with scumbags.  Fans of the River City books should appreciate getting more insights into what makes MacLeod tick and seeing her endearing mixture of warmth and toughness as she deals with everything from uncooperative crooks to unpleasant conversations with her alcoholic mother.Most of the Finch and Elias stories are more "cozy."  Two of them work together like an episode of Columbo where the crime happens first and the fun comes (mostly) from seeing how they catch the perp.  "The Bastard Mummy" gives readers an idea of what a USA show set in Spokane might be like as Detectives Finch and Elias find themselves dealing with a museum caper that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of "Psych" or "White Collar."The last section focuses on a classic New Jersey gangster named Dominic Bracco who has been forced to move to River City.  Zafiro compares him to characters from The Sopranos in the last section's introduction.  That gives readers a good idea of what to expect.  A story about a boxer who crosses Bracco may remind readers of the movie "Pulp Fiction."  Another Bracco story features two hitters from Kansas City pulling off a daring attack in River City's courthouse that will seem all too plausible to anybody who spent time around the real building in Spokane.Anyone who enjoys crime fiction should buy this book.  Anyone who enjoys great dialogue, gallows humor or strong female protagonists should buy this book.  Anybody who has ever driven through Hillyard should buy this book just to see how many places from Spokane they recognize.