Suzanne Chazin

I listened to Land Of Careful Shadows to see if it would give me a new detective series to read. The answer was an emphatic yes. I want to read the rest of the series and I want to read Suzanne Chazin's back catalogue, starting with her debut novel, The Fourth Angel (2002) which kicked off her trilogy about a rookie fire marshal in the NYC Fire Department.

The why behind that yes contains all the things you might expect from the first book in a police procedural series: a detective who is show more more than his job, a strongly evoked sense of place, a well-constructed and artfully revealed mystery and an edgy realism that gives the imagination traction. But what makes the yes and emphatic yes are the things that I don't expect of a police procedural series: a deep empathy for the problems faced by everyone in the story, a strong emotional connection to many participants whether they are doing the investigating, being investigated or simply trying to make sure the investigation doesn't do any more damage than it needs to, and an exploration of the effect of power and helplessness on how people see themselves and how they behave towards others.

Most detective narratives have two things in common - solving a crime and having the good guys find and punish the bad guys. This isn't that kind of narrative. From the start, it's not entirely clear whether or not a crime has been committed. There is a dead body but that doesn't necessarily mean there was a murder. There is a mystery to be solved and it's a good one, but there aren't clear good guys and bad guys and nor is it clear whether those who are guilty should be punished.

This book grabbed my imagination in a way that most police procedurals don't. As I listened to it, I was so tied up in how the people would cope with the challenges that they faced and figuring out what really happened and then figuring out what I thought the right thing to do about it was, that I didn't give much thought to what made this book different. It was only afterwards, as I reflected on the events and the relationships and the power dynamics that shaped the lives of everyone involved that I saw what was different.

Suzanne Chazin wasn't just trying to offer me an engaging puzzle to be solved. She was using the investigation to demonstrate how the rules around immigration and its enforcement shape the lives of people involved - distributing power but also taking it away - and how the normal things in life - love, family. earning a living, belonging, being left alone - all have to push themselves through this system like a river trying to find a way through rock. Her storytelling style is engaging and the narrative is propulsive but the focus isn't on solving the mystery but on the phenomenology of power, helplessness, exclusion and fear. Instead of using people as instruments for plot exposition, she uses the plot to get the reader inside the head of everyone involved and share their experience.

I saw the world through the eyes of Detective Jimmy Vega, who grew up as the only second-generation immigrant from Peurto Rico in an upstate NY town, who works undercover tackling drug gangs and who, on arrival at the crime scene at the beginning of the book is faced with a rookie cop pointing a gun at him because the rookie sees a Hispanic guy in an Escalade as a threat and not as a possible colleague. I saw it through the eyes of an economic migrant who has put himself through the dangers and degradations of travelling north and entering the US illegally for the second time so that he can secure the economic future of his family and who now finds himself likely to be accused of murder. I saw it through the eyes of a Harvard Law graduate, the daughter of undocumented parents, who is running a centre to help to support people who now face a tougher immigration system than her parents did. The more eyes that I saw the world through the more empathy I felt for the characters, even the ones like Jimmy Vega who I didn't like and the more I came to understand that they were all people trying to do the best they could, whether police officer or migrant or social worker.

At first, I thought I was seeing a clash between the law enforcement mindset and the mindset of those who have always had to run and hide from authority. Then I started to see that it was more complicated than that. Doing the right thing, even figuring out what the right thing is, was difficult and oftentimes none of the options available to people were good ones. show less

Sometimes words are inadequate.

Voice with No Echo is the kind of book that prompts long discussions with friends, first about the story, then about all those emotions it makes you feel and the real-world situations it brings to mind.

Can fiction be intelligent? This book is, though it's also engaging and easy to fall into. It's immersive, intense, suspenseful, and real.

One of the things I love most about Suzanne Chazin's books is the way she writes with empathy from both sides of an issue. show more This story tackles immigration in a way rarely seen in fiction. Lines between right and wrong are blurred because doing what's right isn't always clear cut or easy. And doing what's wrong might be the only way to survive. We see people at their best and at their worst, and we see the impact as it reverberates throughout a community.

This is the fifth Jimmy Vega Mystery. While it can easily be read as a stand-alone, I recommend reading them all.

*I received a review copy from Kensington Books.* show less

No Witness But the Moon finds author Suzanne Chazin jumping into the highly polarizing waters of police shootings and public protest. Her series hero, homicide detective Jimmy Vega is just two blocks away when a home invasion call comes in. There have been many incidents recently with escalating violence and it’s quite likely this is one more. The dispatcher says shots were fired and when he arrives on the scene several minutes ahead of other police, the suspect has fled into the woods. show more Vega pursues, confront, and shoots the suspect who turns out to be unarmed.

What ensues is the stereotyped reaction to police shootings as perceived by the police, but with no resemblance to reality. Vega is questioned immediately which does not happen. Most police contracts stipulate at least 48 hours between the incident and questioning and Cleveland gave the man who shot 12 year-old Tamir Rice more than six months to figure out his story before questioning him. The police not only give everything to the media while shutting out Vega, they give witness statements and police reports to a political organizer who leads a national movement against police violence on the very same night of the shooting while shutting out Vega. Right, while in real life, the release of statements and videos can take days, weeks or even more than a year. More ridiculously unrealistic, there is a national hue and cry in response to the shooting of a suspect in a reported home invasion. Sorry, but the victims of police murder who have inspired national outrage were not committing home invasions, they were sitting in their car reading a book, sitting at a picnic table, shopping at Walmart, sleeping in their bed, walking home from the store, selling cigarettes, selling CDs, sitting as a passenger in a car, driving with a tail light out and having their car break down on the highway. Do you see any home invasions there?

The protesters are portrayed as a violent mob who want to kill Vega, who try to beat him to death. The movement leader is portrayed as a smug, evil opportunist who is unnecessarily and spitefully slandered in the end, particularly when she makes him an amalgam of Dr. Henry Louis Gates with his bowtie and Rev. Al Sharpton with his religious oratory. He is a movement leader perceived through the lens of white supremacy and this caricature of the movement is offensive.

This is mitigated somewhat by Chazin’s sympathy for the plight of the undocumented immigrant. She understands the reasons people come here and is on their side, while still making a point that they commit illegal acts in getting here. She knows how they are exploited by the people who smuggle them into America, but the employers who employ them and by the system that ignores the crimes against them because they only see the “crime” of their presence here.

There is, of course, more to the story than a police shooting. A second body is discovered and when Vega learns the man he shot was the super in his murdered mother’s apartment building and the one who discovered his mother and called 911, he takes his time on suspension to investigate his mother’s murder. There are clues in the text that make it possible to figure out who might be the killer and understand the motive. Enough clues that Vega seems a bit obtuse, but then, he is under pressure.

The more interesting character in this installment of the series is Adele, Vega’s lover. She is the founder of an organization providing services to immigrants and is expected to denounce and call for a grand jury investigation of the shooting. Of course, she is conflicted and through her eyes we see the only authentic response to the shooting – the trust she has for Vega in conflict with her experiences with the police and with the history of police interactions with people of color around the country.

This book makes me sad. I loved this series and feel betrayed. On the one hand, this is an interesting story that made me want to read to the end. On the other hand, the gross and insulting characterization of the people who bravely stand against police violence is so offensive and false. I just can’t really recommend a book that reinforces a false perspective on police killing of unarmed people and the response of activists. They are far more responsible and ethical than portrayed in this book. There has never been national outrage of someone killed while committing a home invasion. I doubt there ever will be and that is such an egregious slander of the movement for justice I cannot overlook it, even though I like this author and her series until this book. It’s reckless with the truth and with so many people shot for no good reason, they deserve better than this.

No Witness But the Moon will be released October 25th. I was provided an advance e-galley by the publisher through NetGalley.

http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2016/09/26/no-witness-but-the-moon-by... show less

Sometimes a story is just a story. Other times, as with this book, it's an all-encompassing experience.

Let's start with the writing, which is, I think flawless. There is no sign of intrusion from the author. We are whisked away by the characters and brought to their world. We're like voyeurs in their lives, only better, because we can feel it as well as see it.

That brings us to the characters. They are... I was going to type 'realistic', but that's not right. They are simply - real. They show more could have popped off the pages and stood in front of me.

The plot is complex, intertwined, heartbreaking, and honest. This is a mystery, yes, but it's also literary and social commentary, and I mean that in the most complimentary way. The author's handling of Hispanic culture and immigration issues is pure magic. She reminds us, without ever interfering or forcing the plot, that immigration is not just a political soundbite. When we allow it to be about the politics, instead of the people, we lose a bit of our humanity.

When I picked this book to read, I didn't realize it was the second in a series. I had absolutely no problem connecting to or understanding the characters, so this works exceptionally well as a stand-alone.

*I received an ebook copy from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.* show less