"What could be better news than the start of a new series by Domenic Stansberry" Chicago Tribune
"A gripping novel... incendiary.... this gritty, noirish exercise in murder and drugs feels uncomfortably like the real thing" Publishers Weekly
"Perfect" The New York Times
“Triumphant…a wonderful exercise in lyrical simplicity… noir in its finest form with flawless execution and style.” Baltimore Sun
from Publisher’s Weekly
"A gripping novel... incendiary.... this gritty, noirish exercise in murder and drugs feels uncomfortably like the real thing."
“Edgar-finalist Stansberry's strong, no-nonsense crime novel, the first in a new series, pulls few punches. ... Well researched, with ample local color—most of the action takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area—this is a gripping novel with unforeseeable plot twists and some incendiary scenes. Stansberry has a fine eye for detail that prevents his often grim narrative from becoming merely ghoulish; he evokes the nightmarish criminal underworld without making it too depressing and his protagonist is believable and strangely admirable, even when disposing a body in San Francisco Bay. This gritty, noirish exercise in murder and drugs feels uncomfortably like the real thing. FYI: Stansberry has also been a Hammett Prize finalist.” Publisher’s Weekly, Sept 27, 2004
from The Baltimore Sun
“Triumphant…a wonderful exercise in lyrical simplicity… noir in its finest form with flawless execution and style.”
It seemed like the Edgar-nominated Stansberry had dropped off the face of the earth but he makes a triumphant return with this, the first in a new series starring ex-cop Dante Mancuso. Now on assignment with a shadowy security firm, Mancuso is asked to return to San Francisco, the town he was forced to leave behind after a murder investigation gone wrong, to set up a sting against a Chinese drug gang. Personal reasons also factor in as his arrival is perfectly timed with the funeral of his father. The murky, nourish underbelly soon asserts itself as more bodies pile up and he comes up against a homicide detective with past demons and a family to protect. The plot's well done but Stansberry's greatest strengths are his sense of melancholy, character conflict and especially his prose style, which is a wonderful exercise in lyrical simplicity. Chasing the Dragon is noir in its finest form with near-flawless execution and style. Welcome back, Mr. Stansberry. With this (and next month's paperback original The Confession) there's no doubt you're back for good.
