Nestled under the shadow of the Tobin Bridge is
Charlestown, Boston's oldest neighbourhood and home to many
who aspire to more as well as those caught in the undertow
of poverty and despair. As a "Townie" and a rising All-
American football star at Boston College, Dermot Sparhawk,
part-Irish and Part Micmac, is well-connected to many in
this close-knit neighbourhood where many of members of
Irish families have moved into good jobs as police
officers, priests, and politicians. Now, with a wrecked
knee, his football career a tattered dream and an addiction
to alcohol, Dermot is an outreach worker for the food bank
at Saint Jude Thaddeus Parish for those folks ekeing out a
living in the projects.
Approached by a lean, dark-haired man with a smile and
white teeth (both unusual for the average food pantry
client), Dermot's attention is fully caught by the fact the
man is deaf as well as being the brother of a murdered
Catholic priest, Father Netto Barboza. As Blackie quickly
writes out his request, he indicates that he wants Dermot
to prove that his brother was not a pedophile and to find
out who murdered him. He writes: "I trust you. I know you.
You won't stop until you find out the truth."
Despite thinking the idea is crazy and a vicious serial
killer on the loose, Dermot becomes more determined to
solve this puzzle as he is forcibly warned away. After
telling his priest Father Dominic about the situation,
Dermot gets the official Diocesan blessing from the Bishop
to investigate. But, will his over fondness for alcohol
interfere with his instincts? How can he track down the
killer when the Boston police have no luck either and the
body count quickly mounts?
Not only is the story full of unusual twists, but BEYOND
THE BRIDGE is also written in a different sequence to the
usual series style. Not only fully effective as a stand-
alone book, it is a prequel to Tom MacDonald's highly
acclaimed introduction to Dermot Sparhawk in The Charlestown
Connection. Charlestown is an area Macdonald
knows very well and he realistically and intimately
describes both the area and surrounding locations as well
as its many varied inhabitants.
As a relatively new author, MacDonald delivers an powerful
action packed thriller that quickly pulls you right in the
middle of the projects in Boston as well as a series of
horrific murders where Catholic priests are being horribly
and cruelly crucified, initially seemingly with cause and
then seemingly without a pattern. MacDonald's writing is
clear, easy to follow, and his characters are strongly
drawn with just enough intriguing vagrancies to make them
genuinely alive and not stereotypes. Hopefully, many will
appear again in future novels in this series. Finding a
new role for himself, Dermot relies heavily on his
instincts, ingenuity and friends (especially to borrow cars
or favours). Battling his own alcohol addiction with the
odd AA meeting, Sparhawk is a strong and complex
protagonist who is honourable to himself and his word as he
doggedly strives to keep the promises he makes to others.
Fans of PI thrillers will find BEYOND THE BRIDGE worthy of
checking out!
Sparhawk, a struggling alcoholic, agrees to help find the
killer of an accused pedophile priest. When two more
priests are slain in Boston's Charlestown neighborhood, it
becomes evident that it is the work of a sadistic serial
killer who crucifies his prey after killing them. Sparhawk
blazes an unconventional trail to the killer that puts him
at odds with the very people he is trying to help and
initiates a turf war with law enforcement. He gathers a
cadre of unlikely allies, including a parish priest, a
police lab criminalist, the district attorney, and a state
police lieutenant who help to rebuff attempts to derail him
from the case. Then, with the help of his Micmac Indian
cousin and his paraplegic tenant and former Boston College
teammate, Sparhawk bulldozes his way to the truth, while
putting his own life at risk.
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