The Combat Zone

by Jed Powers

Harvard Square, 1972. Sex. Drugs. Riots. Mike Malloy, a novice PI, has chosen to hang out his shingle in the Square. One of his first cases—find Susan Worthman, aka Susie Sparkle, a teenage runaway. With the help of Square denizen and small-time drug dealer Stoney Sundown, Mike begins a nightmare journey that sends him on a roller coaster ride through the turbulent counterculture of the Square—with all its drugs, sex, and political street clashes—and into the darkest depths of the Combat Zone, Boston’s notorious red-light district—with all its strip joints, peep shows, dirty bookstores, and assorted other degenerate delights. Along the way, Mike knocks heads with outlaw bikers, big-time meth dealers, a South Boston Irish gang boss, mafia thugs, and crooked Cambridge cops. They all want Mike out of their hair, one way or the other. But there’s something else just as dangerous to Mike and just as deadly—himself. Haunted by visions of his experience in Vietnam, Mike seeks solace in the arms of a beautiful woman—the love of his life. A love who turns on him in the dark, leaving him shaken and bleeding. As if that weren’t enough, Mike decides to try the cocaine Stoney offers him, awakening new thoughts and sensations in Mike’s already tortured mind. Thoughts that once out of the vial can never be put back.

284 pages, Paperback

First published June 28, 2015

Reviews

[geraldine bertoni]

Loved it

Great book i rember the 70 and 80s hope he writes more books read all his hampton beach ones all good

[Kevintipple]

The Combat Zone by Jed Power takes readers back in time to the Harvard Square of the very early 70’s in Boston. A time when drugs and X-rated entertainment ruled the area, hippies are everywhere, and anti-war sentiment is strong. Cocaine is a wonder drug that can do no harm. As Malloy muses to himself, “Even one of my heroes, Sherlock Holmes, had used the stuff to help solve cases.” This is the world of private investigator Michael Malloy who consumes vast amounts of cocaine throughout the book.

The late 20 something private investigator is on the hunt for a teenage runaway named Susan Worthman. According to her father who has been coming down from Maine to look for her and threw some money around, she is now going by the name of “Susie Sparkles” and is in the company of a couple speed freaks. Malloy wants a friend of his, Stoney Sundown, to also look around for her by way of the people he knows via drug dealing and a few other things. It should be easy to find her and Mallory figures the whole deal will be wrapped up in a couple of days. He doesn’t expect to make much money on the gig and hopes that he doesn’t get evicted.

Malloy starts by talking to his cousin, Billy Skinner, who also works for the Cambridge Police Department. The cops are overwhelmed by the number of runaways and other issues they are dealing with and were of no help to the dad. Because of the familial connection Malloy gets a little consideration and assistance, but not much. He also starts talking to the homeless young people in the square as well as his other contracts. The case might have stopped there with zero real leads if some members of the “Devil’s Demons Motorcycle Club” had not decided to try to scare him off using physical brute force and threats. They aren’t the only ones who give that a shot. Before long private investigator Michael Malloy is in a world of trouble in The Combat Zone.

Filled with plenty of action, a difficult case, and a private investigator walking the edge is a number of ways this read is a very good one. Malloy is doing the best he can to find the runaway and save himself while at the same time heavily indulging in his darker vices. Part anti-hero and part good guy, this is a complex character that lives in a world rich in detail. The Combat Zone by Jed Power is part mystery, part crime fiction, and in all aspects a very good read.

The author sent me a pdf of the book to read and review after hearing about me from author Bill Crider who reviewed the book last August.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2016

[Glen]

I won this novel in a goodreads drawing.

Mike Malloy, a struggling novice PI, is hired to find a girl in 1972 Harvard Square. Malloy starts poking around, and finds hippies, drug dealers, outlaw bikers, corrupt cops, and a Whitey Bulger type gangster. At times it seemed almost like a 70s retrospective, a picture of fictional Boston between the eras of George Harmon Coxe's Kent Murdoch and Robert Parker's Spenser.

Malloy gets himself in all kinds of trouble, and gets himself hooked on cocaine too boot. He goes on a toot and finds his way to the Combat Zone, Boston's red light district. Something happens, but we don't know what. His cocaine usage gets worse and worse as the book goes on.

Not bad, but could use a little polishing.

[Wayne]

I received the book trough a Goodreads drawing.

In reading this book, I felt like I was running up and down hills. It had it's high and low points, most of them low. I probably would have enjoyed it more if there had been as much attention give to the case that the PI Mike Malloy was working, rather than his own struggles.

[Bret Jarvis]

Very entertaining read. I really liked this book. Won courtesy of Goodreads Giveaways