Innocent Monster (A Moe Prager Mystery Novel) - Gripping Crime Thriller for Book Clubs & Mystery Lovers

Innocent Monster hooked me before the end of the 1st page, and kept me enthralled until the end of the epilogue. The mystery is wonderfully complex, with lots of suspects and lots of possibilities that just don't work. The resolution is one that comes as a complete surprise until almost the very end ...and the end is so filled with action and suspense that knowing who is being chased doesn't matter. The final end of the book is a complete and wonderful surprise, too.The characters are pure NYC, delightful in their in your face bluntness and yet, beneath the sarcasm, dark humor and verbal outrageousness, there is tenderness, depth and compassion. The lead character is beautifully drawn, as are his supporting cast.The author indirectly addresses issues of exploitation, though the book never suffers the fate of being a vehicle for the author's point of view ..and what is said concerning certain aspects of exploitation is incredibly thought provoking. The title makes perfect and disturbing sense once the book is finished, and this reader found herself exploring thoughts on how people and governments create, knowingly or not, situations which must be very carefully examined to prevent becoming an exploiter or worse ...unknowingly, until it is too late.I found the writing style refreshingly direct, and, had I been a NYC expatriate, I would have felt right at home, reading this prose. This is an extremely accomplished and excellently presented book that shouldn't have stayed so long in my to be read list!