Manhattan Nocturne, by Colin Harrison

Didn't I just give an author a second chance only to be disappointed with Mystery Girl? The exact same thing happened with the second book I've read by Colin Harrison, Manhattan Nocturne. From my review of Risk by the same author, I concluded with: "Overall, this book was only so-so because the concept wasn't exciting enough and the stakes never built up during the story." Wouldn't you know it, but Manhattan Nocturne had the same problem.

The story is about a reporter tricked into solving a mystery by a beautiful woman. The mystery is somewhat interesting, but we never care enough about the lead character or the woman to care much about solving the mystery. The stakes just aren't there. It's funny, his career, his family and his life are all at stake at some point, but I just didn't care because the protagonist didn't seem to care much about any of these things. A lot of the inner dialogue of the character was about how flawed and evil our species is. His job was at stake, but he wasn't proud of the work he did. His marriage was at stake, but he cheated on his wife with the beautiful woman and didn't regret it until it led to trouble. His family was at stake, but only by accident and it wasn't a direct part of the plot. His life was at stake in some parts, but he had so much self-loathing that he didn't seem to mind too much except for the physical pain. I think the lesson here is that to make sure the reader is interested in the main character, the character himself must desperately want to achieve his goals. If he doesn't, you end up with a so-so story such as Manhattan Nocturne.