Author: Steven Torres
Publisher: Leisure Books
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: July, 2007
Every street leads to a new threat, an unseen danger? Now his daughter, Jasmine, is missing, and Luis will stop at nothing to get her back. He’s a desperate man, willing to do whatever it takes to find her in the endless maze of the city. Nothing—and no one—will stand in his way. Whoever took Jasmine is about to find out just how tough the Bronx can get.
The strongest trait that The Concrete Maze exhibits is the organic flow of the plot. I have never before read a book where the story flows so naturally from one point to the next. There is no usage of coincidence or intuition; there are no leaps of logic here. But instead there is just a very natural flow of events. Which also serves to enhance the realism and make the stories punch all the more effective.
Marc is the POV character here and rides in the shotgun seat as his Tio Luis tries to find his daughter. Marc gives us a more clear-eyed account of the events because it’s not his daughter that’s missing. While Tio Luis’ emotions and actions bounce all over the map its Marc’s narration that grounds the story in stark and sober language. Marc’s wide-eyed, and sometimes naïve, narration stands at the edge of ground zero and looks deep into the precipice. It’s from that darkness that a brutal reality is impinged on this tight, close-knit family.
What plays out across the streets of the Bronx is a morality play for the modern age. Hard scenarios will be presented and no easy answers will be given. You’ll be forced to decide entirely on your own the rightness or wrongness of what happens. Redemption and revenge intertwine to tell of one mans struggle with the loss of innocence and all that is pure and good in his world. How far will a father go to protect his daughter? All the way to hell and back to take out the Devil himself if need be.
The Concrete Maze has haunted me in a way that hasn’t happened for a long time. It’s a compelling dark tale with a large beating heart at its core. The climatic moments of the story broke my heart and made me tear up while riding the subway. Which is not the best place to drop a tear or two. But they needed to fall and fall they did.
A powerful book with an impact that resonates long after the final page has been turned.
