City of the Sun: A Novel

Excellent PI mystery story. Even if the ending is flawed in my mind. A boy vanishes while delivering morning papers. The police have no luck. His father turns to a PI (not the first) and ends up assisting him, uncovering a ring that snatches young boys, and then travels to Mexico to retrieve the boy. I feel it's flawed because the boy survives almost 3 years of captivity undamaged. ( )

A gritty and suspenseful story, City of the Sun is not one for the squeamish. Eleven year old Jamie disappears while on his early morning newspaper delivery round, the police seem unable or even unwilling to do very much, so Jamie's' father Paul eventually hires a PI, Frank Behr. Paul manages to persuade the unwilling Behr to take him along on is investigations and stakeouts. An initially uneasy relationship develops into one of mutual respect as they try to unravel the case.

A gripping story, all the more so as very early it hints at unspeakable possible destinies for young Jamie. Well written, Levien takes the time to give life to all his characters, a devise which while lending a sense of reality to the story also at times inevitably gets in the way of the otherwise fast paced momentum. Such is one's involvement with the plot that one is tempted to skim quickly over such passages to get back to the main event. Of the characters Paul and Behr quickly engage the reader, and Jamie although we meet him only briefly immediately appeals as a decent young lad.

City of the Sun is a moving and involving story, all the more so because of its sense of reality, both in the telling and in the fact that such terrible things do happen in this world in which we live. One thing is certain, whatever the outcome might prove to be, the reader will be unable to put the book down until he learns of Jamie's fate. ( )

When I started this book I was a little worried that it would be too emotional and not enough thriller. I was wrong! I found myself really feeling sorry for the family but I was more wrapped up in the suspense of finding the son. I did not find myself sad throughout the book. Instead I found myself angry at the people who took the child. It was a great twist of emotion on a sensitive topic. I am looking forward to reading more of David Levien's books in the future. ( )

Hard knuckled P.I. Frank Behr reluctantly agrees to help Paul and Carol Gabriel search for their missing son, Jamie, who has been missing for over a year.

Frank knows that the chances of finding the boy are slim. He tells the Gabriels that even if they do find where Jamie is, they might not find him alive after all this time.

The Gabriels tell Frank that Jamie never returned home after his job of delivering newspapers. He didn't mind the job because he loved riding his new bike.

With the news of the boy's new bike, Frank begins the investigation. He gets a lucky break when one of his snitches gives him the name of someone who used to steal bikes from children and resell them.

As the case moves on, Paul feels the necessity to take an active part in the search for his son. He pleads with Frank to let him accompany him in the investigation. Reluctantly, Frank agrees.

The reader follows the story as one step leads to the next. It is one step forward and then some impediment happens.

This is a dramatic story that also shows the love of parents for their child. The parent's never give up on their search for Jamie and it is their faith that keeps them going.

The story is very realistic and Frank Behr is an easy character for the reader to root for. He's similiar to Robert Parker's character, Spencer.

With good action and a well plotted story, the reader never loses interest. ( )

Normally I shy away from child abuse/disappearance stories, but a friend recommended this to me and it happened to be near the top of the "to be read" paperback stack on the first day of jury duty, so I figured I'd give it a whirl. All-in-all, it was a pretty good first novel effort. I liked the protagonist, Frank Behr, and I thought the portrayal (of what would likely happen to a married couple if their only child disappeared without a trace) was pretty realistic. The dialogue between characters flowed naturally, and the actual step-by-step investigation to find what happened to the missing boy was generally well-done, though the actions of a particular character in the middle of the book are rather inexplicable to me, said actions apparently taking place solely to get the character to a point where Behr and the boy's father could interrogate him (also thought the interrogation of that character could have been handled more realistically--he coughed up the necessary information way too easily). Still, the whole thing was a decent read and I will buy the follow-up book, so I give it ( )