The theme continues to emerge: there’s way more to Brandon Blake than we know yet. Booklist, the library trade reviewer, likes Brandon a lot. And they wonder how he’ll grow as we watch him in future books. Writes reviewer David Pitt: “We get the impression that Boyle has barely scratched (Blake’s) surface here. It will be interesting to see whether he takes Blake in the usual amateur-sleuth direction or if he has something a bit more unusual in store for him. Keep your eyes on this one.”
I have a general idea, as I enter the last two months or so of research: riding with Portland P.D., meeting some good police officers. Watching the waterfront scene. Thinking a lot about Mia and Brandon, how young people grow up together in a relationship. Or do they grow apart? What is it that keeps a couple together? What happens when terrible things happen all around them? Do they succumb to collateral damage?
In PORT CITY SHAKEDOWN, the first Brandon Blake novel, Brandon gets a full dose of bad guys. A brawl in a funeral home introduces him to Joel Fuller, a sociopathic hustler. Fuller is fresh out of jail and determined to take Brandon out—after Fuller and his sidekick Kelvin shake him down.
Rocky isn’t a tough guy. He’s a skinny little kid with crooked glasses, and he shouldn’t be homeless in Portland, Maine. When McMorrow and Roxanne pluck him from under the stomping feet of a gang of street kids, Rocky latches onto McMorrow–and drags him into a world of murder, both old and new. Why is McMorrow protecting Rocky? The cops want to know. Why is Rocky on the run? McMorrow wants to know. Why does death follow in Rocky’s wake? Jack and Roxanne need to find out before they’re added to the list.