Rizzo's Fire

It's always tough to follow up a strong first book–and Manfredo isn't the first author to come up a little shorter the second time around.

Still, it's a solid read. Each page, each moment screams “authentic.” Not just because of what Manfredo used to do, though that certainly helps. The way that Rizzo and Cil have to juggle cases, call in and ask for favors, cut deals with all sorts of unsavory types, play politics, so on and so forth–if that's not as close as you can get to reality, I don't know what is.

The central case is less-than-gripping, but it's still good to see solid procedure in a police procedural (even if our heroes cut a few corners). And I could sit and listen to Sergeant Rizzo tell war stories and share his philosophy of crime solving for hours.

Not a great book, but a really good one.