Description

Reviewed by Pikasho Deka for Readers' Favorite:

A Dark Trail is a mystery thriller by Ozzie Logozzo. In a city rife with crime, corruption, homelessness, and poverty, Father Adam Piccolo (Pico) strives to help those in need and the unfortunate. However, the inhabitants of Tent City live in a constant state of tension as drug dealers, prostitutes, and criminals navigate their lives side by side. After a fourteen-year-old boy loses his life, Pico takes it upon himself to investigate the matter. However, larger forces are at play. While Mayor Charles Wright (Rolo) and Judge Jules Manning hatch a nefarious plan to set up a development project involving the Christie Pits parkland, Pico sets out to pull the lid off their operation, discovering secrets about his own past along the way. But people are dying, and now, Pico and his loved ones are in grave danger.

Crime thriller enthusiasts are in for a wild rollercoaster of a ride with A Dark Trail. From the very beginning, Ozzie Logozzo sets a dark and gritty tone to the narrative, weaving a gripping plot that pulls the rug from under your feet over and over again. As you're reading, you never know the way the story's going. The author uses a large and diverse cast of characters, each with their own agency and motives, coming from very different backgrounds. Pico is a complex and riveting protagonist and someone you want to root for. Apart from his relationship with Sky, I also enjoyed his brief conversations with Shirley Wright. Not everyone gets their happy ending, as Logozzo opts for a more realistic and grounded conclusion. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and can't recommend it highly enough to mystery thriller lovers.