cover image Manila Time

Manila Time

Jack Trolley. Carroll & Graf Publishers, $22 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-7867-0255-8

In this fast-moving follow-up to Balboa Firefly, Trolley once again traps San Diego police sergeant Tommy Donahoo in an intriguing web of corruption and duplicity. Trouble comes when Donahoo's partner, Chip Lyons, videotapes the murder of a Mexican mobster but, planning to blackmail the killer, fails to mention the fact to Donahoo. When, days later, Lyons is shot dead, Donahoo must figure out why an unknown thug is offering him huge sums of money for a tape whose location and contents are a mystery to him. The clues point toward several suspects, including a corrupt border patrolman and a woman whom Lyons was blackmailing for sexual favors. The action explodes during the funeral parade for Lyons, when Donahoo realizes that his partner's killers were actually after a ballistic guidance system that tracks individual victims--a device that would turn political assassination into child's play. Trolley's writing is a bit choppy, but his story is tightly plotted, with backroom patter and politics offering effective counterpoint to the action sequences. Donahoo continues to be an appealingly clumsy hero, moreover, a welcome change from the usual tough, icily sarcastic police protagonist--and with two adventures under his belt, he seems prepared to stay. (Oct.)