Tuesday, 1 April 2025

Book ~ "Silent City" (2013) Alex Segura

From Goodreads ~ Pete Fernandez is a mess. He's on the brink of being fired from his middle-management newspaper job. His fiancée has up and left him. Now, after the sudden death of his father, he's back in his hometown of Miami, slowly drinking himself into oblivion. 

But when a co-worker he barely knows asks Pete to locate a missing daughter, Pete finds himself dragged into a tale of murder, drugs, double-crosses and memories bursting from the black heart of the Miami underworld - and, shockingly, his father's past. 

Making it up as he goes and stumbling as often as he succeeds, Pete's surreptitious quest becomes the wake-up call he's never wanted but has always needed - but one with deadly consequences. 

Welcome to Silent City, a story of redemption, broken friendships, lost loves and one man's efforts to make peace with a long-buried past to save the lives of the few friends he has left.

Pete's life had promise. He and his fiancée were in love and he enjoyed his job at a newspaper in New York. When his father unexpectedly passes away, they head to Miami to settle his father's affairs. But things start to fall apart ... they stay longer than planned, he and Emily break up and she marries someone else, he's not happy with his new job at a local newspaper and he's drinking a lot. 

When Chaz, a colleague he barely knows, asks him for a favour, Pete figures it would be a quick distraction. His daughter, Kathy, is an investigative reporter for the paper and he doesn't have a great relationship with her. Chaz thinks she has disappeared and he asks Pete to find out if she's okay. As Pete starts to check things out, he realizes something is amiss with Kathy. Concerned he keeps digging because no one else seems to be concerned. For a story, Kathy had been investigating a serial killer named Silent Death and she may be his latest victim.

This is the first book I've read by this author and I liked it. It is written in third person perspective with the focus on Pete. I liked Pete and felt kind of bad for him. His life was falling apart and it didn't seem like he really cared. He was still hung up on Emily and even though she had moved on, she still meets him and their good friend for drinks. On the plus side, he loves music and has a cat. As a head's up, there is violence and swearing. It's the first in the Pete Fernandez series and I look forward to reading the rest.

Happy birthday, Crumpet

Happy 14th birthday to my girl, Crumpet!