The Concrete Maze

by Steven Torres

Book Overview

When a teenage girl is kidnapped by a Bronx crime boss, nothing will stand between her father and the man who took her. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 084395969X
• ISBN13: 9780843959697
• Release Date: January 2007
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 286 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.3" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

Strong Urban Noir

Jasmine Ramos is 13 years old and missing. That is the cold, hard fact. Her father, Luis Ramos, will stop at nothing to find her and then provide the justice that the reluctant NYPD detectives can't seem to meter out. Told through the eyes of Luis' nephew, Marc, the pair dive into a world of drugs, prostitution, and corruption driven by selfish people with too much money and too little humanity. The maze Luis must traverse includes slices of New York City that most don't see and many who have wish they hadn't. A smooth read, it is heart-wrenching at several points with twists that keep you guessing at the ultimate outcome. It is an urban noir thriller engrossing enough for a straight-through read. There is a depth and maturity in the writing that I'm sure will grow and pull this reader back for more. Any minor nit-picking is just that and doesn't diminish this from being a 5 star read.

A Gripping and Very Human Read

Steven Torres is one of the best writers and one of the most unsung writers in the genre. In THE CONCRETE MAZE, he takes a break from his Precinct Puerto Rico series to take his readers on a trip through hell. Told by Marc Ramos, this story is wrapped around the disappearance of his cousin and his uncle's quest to find her. The police seem uninterested in locating the missing thirteen year old so they travel into dark corners of New York City that tourists try hard not to see to get her back. But the world of drugs and prostitution that his cousin disappeared into is unforgiving and what they find there changes both of them. Torres uses the perspective of Marc to put the reader the role of the sometimes somewhat unwilling accomplice. Tio (Spanish for 'Uncle') Luis pulls Marc with him day after day and forces him to put himself in danger often so Luis may get his beloved daughter back. The central theme to this novel is family. Luis is willing to sacrifice everything he has to recover his daughter and that same sense of family motivates Marc to help his uncle. The irony here is that Luis routinely puts Marc in harm's way to get his daughter back. Torres captures the profound pain of Luis and the conflict in Marc to help the family but avoid being pulled into the dark world of drugs, guns and prostitution that his cousin found herself in. And while the story is told in first person by Marc, the central character to the story is Luis. His motivations are sometimes clouded and his relentlessness in his pursuit felt disconcerting to me. But this is the hallmark of a great story where the reader feels invested in seeing how it all turns out. This is a solid novel that shows that Torres can write excellent hard-boiled mysteries. I look forward to his next novel.

It is really all about the family

Family is often a background element in mystery fiction. Beyond the obvious biological family, detectives often have an extended family of sorts that they rely on for assistance. That isn't the case here where Marc has a very involved biological family, a problem that won't be solved easily, and virtually zero outside assistance. The year is 1992 and the setting is New York City as this suspenseful novel opens. Luis (Tio) Ramos left Puerto Rico years ago when he was drafted by the Army and sent to Vietnam. He saw combat, much of which he does not talk about, was wounded as well and survived the war to ultimately settle in NYC and raise a family. Now his daughter, Jasmine, who recently turned thirteen and hit that horrible acting out phase all teenagers go through to some degree or another, is missing. Tio has searched a little and now has come to his nephew, Marc, a cynical young man, to help him look. From the start this isn't something Marc wants to do but he really doesn't have a choice as he can't say no to Tio. They begin a search for Jasmine at the local indoor skating hangout known as "The Skate Key" counting on Marc's age as being a way to get other teens to talk. As they begin to look for her and ask questions they run into a wall of police indifference based on racism, kids that won't talk for a variety of reasons, and drug dealers that rule the streets. Tio Ramos is going to attack the problem the same way that he dealt with the Viet Cong in the jungles of Vietnam. He embarks on a search and destroy mission with one goal--to get his daughter Jasmine back and everyone else, including his nephew Marc is expendable. While NYC isn't Vietnam, the enemy is just as tenacious and dug in with the concrete streets and alleyways serving as his jungle. The characters make frequent forays out into various areas of the city searching for information, fight skirmishes and battles, before returning to their homes for food and a few hours of sleep. That military aspect of the work where the concrete city is the urban jungle and just as deadly as the jungle in some far off war zone is clichéd and yet it works well as does the pain of a missing child, a parent's worst nightmare as the cliché goes, a universal truth that almost anyone can relate to. That certainly is true here and something that Author Steven Torres uses to full chilling effect. As he does the cynical world weary young college age student, Marc. Tio's nephew, Marc often sounds far older than his years and routinely expresses a cynical view of life, the world, and his family's place in things. Well aware that nothing can be fixed or reversed, he seeks to get the hunt for Jasmine over as fast as possible. Not because Jasmine could very well be in serious danger, but because he finds it all a bit much as she certainly needs to learn a lesson and besides that he has things to do. That sets up quickly a conflict between Tio, who sees family as everything and a reason for being, and Marc,

excellent urban noir

You can make it there, but many don't as New York City can eat you up and spit you out if you're not careful. Predators are waiting everywhere waiting for a nice girl to lure into prostitution and drugs. Luis Ramos went to pick up his beautiful thirteen year old daughter Jasmine only she wasn't there. Luis and his nephew Marc look for her and by talking to people they learn she is with Carlos Valle, a drug dealer and pimp. Her loving relatives fear the worst for her. The police seem very disinterested so it is up to her father to try and find her. They do everything they can, trying to rescue Jasmine from Carlos. They don't stop searching until Detective Pearson tells them Jasmine is dead, her head found first before other body parts were located all around the city. Luis, with the help of Marc are not about to stop looking for the killer(s) and when (not if in their minds) they do, the culprit will learn how feels to sever body parts. Readers get a look at the underbelly of the city, a place tourists know nothing about as they scurry from one place to another. The residents know what can happen to the young even if they are properly brought up because even a good person can go astray and make a mistake. Readers may have problems with the methods Luis uses to get information but he is not a police officer and a criminal will hardly lodge a complaint against him. Steven Torres has written an urban noir that defies the term, a powerhouse tale of immense strength that shows the author has insight and yes, compassion for what he is writing about. Harriet Klausner

The Concrete Maze is loaded with heart

The Concrete Maze by Steven Torres is rooted in love of family and community and this is what makes this often gut-wrenching and always compelling story hum. Highly recommended.