Rivers of Gold-Adam Dunn

Rivers of Gold
Adam Dunn
Bloomsbury, Sep 28 2010, $25.00
ISBN: 9781608193073

In 2013, the second Great Depression has led to the rise of crime especially in the urban centers. NYPD established the controversial Citywide Anticrime Bureau to prevent the further increase in criminal activity. Already having strong objections to the creation of this unit, the Aubrey Bright fatality has led to rioting against the cops and especially CAB.

CAB Detective Sixto Santiago works undercover, but when he finds the mutilated corpse of Egyptian cabdriver Eyad Fouad near the Holland Tunnel, he sees an opportunity for career advancement. Thus expecting to solve the case quickly and obtain kudos and a promotion, Santiago investigates the brutal homicide of the immigrant. However, his inquiry soon proves this was not a simple murder of a cabbie, but much more.

Rivers of Gold is an intriguing near futuristic tale that extrapolates the economic crisis from a lingering recession into a deep rooted depression and consequently its affect on people. The investigation is entertainingly filled with twists and spins as a simple homicide that smacks of promotion turns into a convoluted job killer. Although the ending inanely and overly hyperbolizes the previously somewhat subtle farcical plot, readers will enjoy this fun police procedural.

Harriet Klausner