By Stephen Wilcox
This book reminded me of the Dave Barry movie Big Trouble
. The small time criminal in the book was pretty hapless, as in the movie. This was an OK crime novel. Not really a mystery as you, the reader, follow both the good guys and the criminals.The big bonus of this book is the descriptions of Niagara Falls, New York/Ontario. The area and streets are well described. Having traveled to the Buffalo/Niagara area quite a few times over the years it was neat to recognize some of the streets and names mentioned. On a side note, I noticed 2 typos in the book.
Overall this was not a bad story. It follows a few characters but one, Decker, is a guy who survived going over the falls as a kid and lived. He dates an undercover customs agent who is investigating customs agents on the take from the mob. The criminal activities in the book involve following the small time crook who is trying to break into doing work for the mob. Yeah does it really matter what the plot is. This is a quick reading crime novel. The story was interesting but I found the facts about the Falls the most interesting parts.
It turns out Decker is based on a real incident (at least the part about a boy going over the falls and living.) In 1960 a 7 year old boy was the first to go over the falls sans protection and live. Read about it. His name was Rodger Woodward.
