Street Level

By Bob Truluck

Book Overview

Winner of the 1999 St. Martin's Press/ PWA Award for Best First Private Eye Novel When we meet private detective Duncan Sloan he's just handed back a five thousand-dollar check meant as advance payment on a job. The wealthy prospective client wants Sloan to find a woman with an eyeball tattooed on her bottom. All he knows is the tattoo, that she's very young, white and probably somewhere in or near Orlando, Florida, Sloan's hometown. Thanks but no thanks; that's not enough. But when the five grand reappears in Sloan's mailbox, he uses it for a Costa Rican vacation and never mind the job. Pike, however tracks him down. When he explains the assignment, Sloan finds it bizarre enough to say "yes." Isaac Pike is the only son of a top-ranked tycoon. He is also gay. Because he genuinely wants to be a father, he has deposited sperm with a reputable clinic while he searches for a suitable mother. But a paroled convict working at the clinic steals the sperm, impregnates a teenager with it, and blackmails Pike - send money or we abort the child. Although Pike's idea of a suitable mother is not quite a waif from an Orlando trailer park, he is decent enough to be genuinely concerned about both mother and child. Sloan pursues the thief and his buddies and, he hopes, the girl, through the Florida city's sad neighborhoods and outlying cheap motels, calling on his drug-enhanced informers and a contact in the police. Getting closer brings him to the mangled bodies of the young mother-to-be's relatives, and closer to his own danger as well. On he goes -- Duncan Sloan may be a reluctant detective, but when he's wound up he's hard to stop. Street Level is Bob Truluck's first novel. It was chosen as the Best First Private Eye Novel of 1999 in the contest sponsored by Private Eye Writers of America and St. Martin's Press.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 031226626X
• ISBN13: 9780312266264
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 0.9" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

A star is born in my favorite genre!

In this initial outing, Bob Truluck's Duncan Sloan will remind the discerning detective-genre aficionado of Parker's early Spenser offerings...except that Sloan is hipper, smarter, and a bit more wry than Spenser ever was. On top of that, Bob Truluck has somehow managed to come up with a genuinely original premise for this story, an achievement that I haven't seen in years. If you appreciate an excellent hard-boiled detective novel, then you'll want this one on your bookshelf. In fact, the only problem with Street Level is that its sequel isn't already waiting on the shelf for me to buy.

The Florida State of Crime

As a mystery writer from southern California with my debut novel in initial release, I am constantly amazed by my fellow mystery writers who happen to operate out of Florida. We all know their names, and now we must add Bob Truluck's name to the list. In STREET LEVEL, he earns his place on the short list of excellence. In this debut adventure for his PI, Duncan Sloan is given the job of tracking down a gang of thieves who withdrew a gay millionaire's sperm deposit from a sperm bank and used it to impregnate a woman from a trailer park who is dreaming of a big score from her maternity. The noirish plot grows wilder from there, and you need to read STREET LEVEL to believe it. Keep in mind it's set in Florida. It's a great debut mystery. I recommend it heartily.

The Start of a Great Series

Isaac Pike, gay millionaire from Minnesota, is in a real bind. Sperm he deposited at a fertility clinic has not only been stolen but implanted into a low-life, trailer park nude dancer and if he ever wants to see his soon to be delivered child, he's going to have to pay up big time. The girl, Crystal Gail, was last seen in Orlando Florida, so Pike hires loose cannon private detective, Duncan Sloan, to sort out this mess and find the girl. Unfortunately, Sloan isn't the only person looking for Crystal, but he's the only one who wants to find and keep her alive. As the body count begins to grow exponentially and Sloan zeroes in on Crystal's whereabouts, he puts his plan in action and hopes they all come out of this alive..... Bob Truluck has written a spare, gritty and often witty novel full of graphic language and violence that's not for the faint of heart. His wise-cracking, hard-boiled detective, Duncan Sloan is an original, well drawn with a strong irreverent voice. This is a mystery/thriller that has it all...tight, fast paced plot, great characters and vivid, riveting scenes you won't soon forget. All in all a terrific debut you'll have to read in one sitting and a P.I. you'll look forward to following for many years to come.

Delightful!

Plot is really secondary to the characterizations and dialogue in this fine first novel. Duncan Sloan is a well-conceived hero with a heart in hiding, and his encounters throughout have a resounding ring of truth to them--primarily because of the splendid rendering of the characters' voices. As well, with seeming effortlessness, author Truluck creates believable, even touching, characters. And this is no small accomplishment.A book well worth reading.

Good work

Successful private investigators need a streak of independence, but even sleuth Duncan Sloan admits he is so much the maverick he follows no rules nut his own. Sloan spent two years in prison before his appeal overturned his conviction, but that has not tampered his methodology of doing it his way.The Orlando detective's latest case involves Minnesota multimillionaire Isaac Pike who wants a baby. Though a powerful person, Isaac is gay and his own disgusted father has stopped any adoption. Isaac has deposited sperm in a local clinic so that a surrogate mother can provide him with the infant he desperately wants. However, a clinic employee steals the sperm, inseminates Crystal Gail Johnson, and tries to blackmail Isaac. He hires Sloan to find the woman and bring her to Isaac, unaware of the power and nastiness of the opponents.STREET LEVEL is an exciting shamus tale that is not for the faint of heart. The tale is filled with profanity and graphic violence. Those readers with strong stomachs will enjoy the fast paced, action packed noir that won the St. Martin's/PWA 1999 contest due in part to its anti-heroic, but memorable character.Harriet Klausner