For Pacific Book Review

When the Mayor of New York City’s grandson and the grandson’s wife are found shot, execution style, NYPD homicide Detective-Investigator Louis Martelli with his partner Sean O’Keeffe are put on the case. It is clearly a message to the Mayor from someone destined to eternity in Dante’s eighth of Nine Circles of Hell, which in the epic fable is resided by the winged Geryon monster with fraudulent ways of disingenuous nature. Hence, Theodore Jerome Cohen uses this metaphor to title the latest of Det. Louis Martelli’s case-adventures, Eighth Circle.

In typical “Cohen style,” the reader starts along with Det. Martelli at the same level - without a clue. The execution was a professional hit; the guns cleansed of their serial numbers and left behind with absolutely no evidence nor witnesses. Working on innate police instincts, Martelli enlists the help of Missy Dugan, a police department computer IT expert to seek out any impropriate item or graft by the Mayor which can somehow reveal who might have had a reason for murdering his family. Stumbling upon a property tax reassessment begins the thread of investigation. It seems as if someone made about $600,000 worth of improvements to the Mayor’s house for free.
In a fast moving, intelligent fashion, Det. Martelli “peels the onion” to the core of the relationships hidden deeply within the carefully covered-up tracks of fraud, pay-offs, and “favors” at the highest political levels in New York City on both sides of the moral fence – politicians and mobsters. Learning of their way of doing business, Cohen actually sets the morality of each of these dichotomized social leaders as being very similar regarding integrity; both corrupt, only one side is elected to office and the other is nepotic “family.”

As an iconic writing technique used by Dr. Cohen in many of his novels, he inserts a variety of footnotes explaining everything from the basis of jesting remarks to factual research throughout the book, resulting in a hybrid mix of educating readers along with a clearly fictional storyline. I find this makes for a unique type of reading genre, adding a strong foundation of credibility to the characters and situations. Coupled with a terse and poignant use of dialogue and cleverly human perceptions, the fast-paced book becomes a classic page-turner of enjoyment. Throughout the book Det. Louis Martelli interacts with colleagues and criminals alike, all with the utmost respect, politeness and restraint of his anger – even when the battle is brought personally to his home and family.

Although Eighth Circle can stand on its own merits for a complete novel, it is best to read this in the proper succession of the prior Det. Louis Martelli series of adventures. With remarkable events in his books paralleling the reality of real life situations in the news and current events, Theodore Cohen brings his stories to life under the belief that true events make for the best fiction.

For Reader Views

In his new book “Eighth Circle” Theodore J. Cohen uses fiction as a tool to alert the reader to the dangers of graft, greed, and political corruption; using intrigue, creative imagination, and a unique writing style to draw the reader into an interactive entertaining reading experience. This is the fifth book in the Martelli series.

Stymied after months of investigation into the execution type murder of the grandson and wife, of New York City’s Mayor, Detective Louis Martelli and his partner Detective Sean O’Keeffe are given an ultimatum by Police Captain Hanlon, and a deadline for solving the case. The case had “ear marks of a mob hit.” A meeting with the doctor of the murdered young wife opened an unexpected lead and resulted in the late night arson on Martelli’s wife’s car. A chain of unexpected events from the past, bribes, under the table schemes, and mob revenge follow, keeping Martelli and his friends looking over their shoulders right up to the volatile conclusion.

Cohen has an amazing depth of understanding of police procedures and politics, hospital operations, and human nature. Careful research stimulated by newspaper headlines featuring political corruption, and mass murders is carefully documented and authenticate the accuracy of his careful descriptions of the New York City locale, investigative processes, and the vast resources available through computer access.

Cohen uses dialog effectively to move the plot and story line forward, keeping the reader on track. The action plot and ready-made script make “Eighth Circle” and the Martelli series ideal for movie adaptation. In a book series characters often take on personal feelings similar to those of real life friends and acquaintances. Cohen’s characters display a camaraderie, social interaction, respect and deep emotional concern for each other. In “Eighth Circle” there is evidence of growth in their personal confidence level and in their professional skill. Cohen adeptly uses description to create a “mood” which authenticates the setting with the plot. He also adds a bit of eccentric by detailing unusual physical quirks in appearance, in personality traits, ethnic accents, and his choice of vocabulary in describing his secondary characters.

“Eighth Circle” reads like an investigative reporting expose: action packed filled with drama, suspense, technology, psychopaths, corruption, and murder. Theodore J. Cohen’s writing just keeps getting better.