Carol's Reviews > Drop Dead Punk

Drop Dead Punk by Rich Zahradnik gives you the feeling of being in New York City during the financial crisis of 1975 when the city was on the verge of bankruptcy. The details really make this book shine. Even though this is the second book in a series, it works very well as a standalone. I love the fact that the author was a reporter in many kinds of media but because he had reported for newspapers, the book felt very realistic.

The main character, Coleridge Taylor enjoys his life as a crime reporter and had allowed himself total immersion in his job after a break up with a girlfriend. He was trying to fill a big hole, he knew something was missing in his life but his job came closer than anything to filling that hole.

Coleridge was sort of a depressed fellow, everyone at the office knew that the paper that he worked for was ready to fold, and they just didn’t know when it would happen. He is not the right person to spend his time at City Hall to wait for a reaction from the mayor about President Ford’s declaration that New York City would not be offered help to save them from bankruptcy. He was bored by that kind of stuff.

One thing that was very endearing to me was that Coleridge felt emotional pain but also at times a lot of physical pain. That made me realize that usually male leads in crime mysteries do not complain about physical pain. This one little fact made me fall for this character. He sort of brought out the mother in me!

Even he was supposed to spend the day at City Hall, Coleridge called a contact up and got a lead on a crime story. He managed to be at the crime scene at the same time that the investigators were there. He noticed that the policeman had been shot in the face and it would have been almost impossible for the young punk haired man to have shot him. Things don’t fit. Something smells about this case. The more he checks things out the more that they don’t fit. Coleridge makes a new friend a badgered female newbie on the force. It took a long time for them to be able to trust each other but they learned how. She would a great character to continue in a third book.

The book kept my interest all the way through, I stayed up to midnight finishing it. I did not have an idea about how it would end. One thing that I was positive of and that was that I was on Coleridge Taylor’s side! I would love to read the next book in this series.

I received a finished copy of Drop Dead Punk in exchange for a fair review from the Partners in Crime but that in no way influenced my thoughts or feelings in my review.