I read Jack Ramsay’s crime novel, Brogan’s Crossing, from sheets of printed typing paper. Unbound, occasionally crooked, with the ink fading towards the end of the manuscript; its appearance was unlike all other books I’ve read, save my own. I read the complete novel—twice—but I can’t say I’ve read it cover to cover. Perhaps, by the time this article is posted to my blog, Brogan’s Crossing will be bound; with a glossy cover, Jack’s name emblazoned across the front, and with its very own IBSN number. That is my hope. For if ever a novel deserved publishing, Brogan’s Crossing is it.
Sam Brogan is a cop. A father. A widower. Sam Brogan is an honorable man who witnesses the violent death of someone very close to him, at a time when he is finally getting his life back on track. He knows who is responsible for the tragedy. In his heart, he knows. Now, all he has to do is prove it, while at the same time, protecting his little girl.
But bringing down the city’s biggest crime family is no easy task, and Brogan runs into roadblock after roadblock. He’s forbidden to work the case. He’s too involved, too close. And yet, those whom he trusts to investigate don’t seem to be doing their jobs. The leads aren’t being followed up on—at least, not to Sam’s satisfaction. And soon, he begins to wonder if something insidious has taken hold of the very people he counted on to help him.
Gaby was his wife’s best friend, and despite himself, Sam finds himself succumbing to her allure. But Detective Dunbar, a woman he desperately wants to trust, is hiding something. And Sam is afraid he knows what it is.
With no recourse but to hunt down the killers himself, Brogan goes rogue. He believed in the system, but the system let him down. And a desperate man with a child to protect can easily find himself balancing precariously between doing what is lawful, and doing what is just.
Brogan’s Crossing is a novel which presents the reader with the challenge of deciding if the protagonist is a hero, or a villain. The complex issue of social justice is dragged--kicking and screaming--into the light by author Jack Ramsay. In a world where justice has increasingly become nothing more than an ideal instead of a practice, Jack forces us to decide right and wrong for ourselves. He causes us to ask ourselves: How far would we go to safeguard those we love? And who, exactly, has the right to mete out justice in a world where it no longer seems to exist?
Keep watch for Brogan’s Crossing. This is a novel well worth waiting for. And in the meantime, don’t make any presumptions about your own moral code. Jack Ramsay will have you questioning everything you ever believed in. Everything you were always sure was right.
