Bernard Cockburn is a beat reporter for the Omaha Weekly
News-Telegraph. His boss has him chasing dead-end
stories on real estate and county funding irregularities
when he'd rather be working on that handful of neglected
exposés in his bottom desk drawer -- or self-medicating in
the apartment he shares with an on-again, off-again
girlfriend.
Then Cockburn finds himself at a bloody crime
scene in downtown Omaha and uncovers a lead in what soon
becomes the only story worth pursuing, one that just might
pull him down and keep him there for good. From street level
to small-town bureaucracy, and even the staff at the paper,
a vigilante league is intent on cleaning up the ghetto for
profit, even if it means killing a few people to get it done
-- an elaborate conspiracy too unbelievable for
newsprint.
Like the detectives of all great noir,
Cockburn's got a past that threatens to invade his present
at any moment. Work has become a diversion from his personal
life; but almost no one knew about his connection to the
death of his best friend's little sister, and now he's begun
receiving disconcerting blackmail threats.Debut novelist
Jonathan Segura has all the right instincts when it comes to
plotting a relentless and tightly packed story. Darkly funny
at times, and even wryly emotional, Occupational
Hazards is a sharply observant, suspenseful read from a
new and worthy writing talent.
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