| The heavily symbolic, titular New Lots in John Clarkson's gripping crime novel is a public housing development in one of Brooklyn's worst neighborhoods, Brownsville--'most of which was nothing but long stretches of waste and rubble interrupted by structures that had collapsed under the weight of abuse and neglect and the final ravages of fire. The houses and apartments and commercial buildings still in use were so run down and decrepit that they seemed to be discarded versions of what the rest of the city used.' New Lots is a scarred and profane territory of poverty, hopelessness, drugs, and whatever other depravity is the new lot in life for its unloved and unlucky inhabitants. Two tribes are fighting for control of this ugly turf: the Blue-Tops, a gang of parasitical crack dealers who suck up the blood of the residents, and a Muslim outfit called MS-2, bonded in prison and bent on a show of power as a portent of things to come. A troubled veteran cop named Loyd Shaw, facing forced retirement without a pension if he refuses or fails, is brought in to settle the situation when it threatens a women's shelter run by Justine Burton, the daughter of the police commissioner. Shaw in turn assembles a squad of oddball specialists to take on two extremely smart, dedicated, and deadly gang leaders. Clarkson, a New York advertising executive, makes it all believable and fast-moving, as he did with such previous thrillers as And Justice for One, One Man's Law, and One Way Out. --Dick Adler |
