Book Review - Borderline by Mark Schorr
Category Book Review Mark Schorr Borderline
I recently read an article about a local author, Mark Schorr. He lives in the same basic area of Portland as I do, and he writes crime thrillers. There are two books in his Brian Hanson series, so I thought I'd start at the beginning with Borderline. Wow... A very tight and fast read, made even more interesting given the home town element.
Brian Hanson is a therapist working with some of the city's most forgotten and neglected citizens. Street people, prostitutes, you name it. He has his own issues also, as his time in Vietnam led to PTSD and drug and alcohol abuse. He's gotten clean and sober, but his violent past is only a flashback and a drink away. While he deals with the seamy side of Portland, his wife is a high-powered and upper-crust real estate developer who lives for the deal (and the money). Needless to say, there's a fair amount of tension between them and their two philosophies of life, and the marriage isn't going all too well.
One of Hanson's clients, a prostitute named Tammy, seems to be getting her life slowly turned around. But she's found with a gunshot wound to the head, and the police write it off as a suicide. He's not so sure, and starts digging around to see if perhaps there might not be something more to the story. This "asking around" attracts the attention of the deputy mayor, Tony Dorsey, who also has an interest in the case. Portland's major crime stats are way down compared to other cities, and its his job to make sure it stays that way. Dorsey decides to cozy up to Hanson's wife in order to get some inside information, exert some pressure and influence, and also get her into his bed (and other surfaces). Hanson enlists the help of a young FBI agent, the niece of a client, to see if there's anything to his murder theory. At first, all these separate pieces appear to be unrelated on the surface. But very soon, Dorsey's got Hanson's wife exactly where he wants her (in more ways than one), she's trapped herself into aiding him in his larger goals, and Hanson has to figure out if his life is worth more to him than trying to find the truth about Tammy's death.
As I started reading, the enjoyment of the home town element of the book kept me interested. It's always fun to read a passage and imagine EXACTLY where and how it looks. It didn't take long before Dorsey's secrets and Hanson's suppressed violent persona took over and had me hooked. I burned a whole evening (when I should have been doing something else) finishing up the book, as I didn't want to put it down. And I don't quite know how to explain it, but Hanson's personality evoked strong emotions that caused me to really care about what was about to happen.
As I head out for a getaway at the coast this weekend, the follow-up to Borderline is tucked in my bag. I have no doubt it'll be finished by this time tomorrow...
I recently read an article about a local author, Mark Schorr. He lives in the same basic area of Portland as I do, and he writes crime thrillers. There are two books in his Brian Hanson series, so I thought I'd start at the beginning with Borderline. Wow... A very tight and fast read, made even more interesting given the home town element.
Brian Hanson is a therapist working with some of the city's most forgotten and neglected citizens. Street people, prostitutes, you name it. He has his own issues also, as his time in Vietnam led to PTSD and drug and alcohol abuse. He's gotten clean and sober, but his violent past is only a flashback and a drink away. While he deals with the seamy side of Portland, his wife is a high-powered and upper-crust real estate developer who lives for the deal (and the money). Needless to say, there's a fair amount of tension between them and their two philosophies of life, and the marriage isn't going all too well.
One of Hanson's clients, a prostitute named Tammy, seems to be getting her life slowly turned around. But she's found with a gunshot wound to the head, and the police write it off as a suicide. He's not so sure, and starts digging around to see if perhaps there might not be something more to the story. This "asking around" attracts the attention of the deputy mayor, Tony Dorsey, who also has an interest in the case. Portland's major crime stats are way down compared to other cities, and its his job to make sure it stays that way. Dorsey decides to cozy up to Hanson's wife in order to get some inside information, exert some pressure and influence, and also get her into his bed (and other surfaces). Hanson enlists the help of a young FBI agent, the niece of a client, to see if there's anything to his murder theory. At first, all these separate pieces appear to be unrelated on the surface. But very soon, Dorsey's got Hanson's wife exactly where he wants her (in more ways than one), she's trapped herself into aiding him in his larger goals, and Hanson has to figure out if his life is worth more to him than trying to find the truth about Tammy's death.
As I started reading, the enjoyment of the home town element of the book kept me interested. It's always fun to read a passage and imagine EXACTLY where and how it looks. It didn't take long before Dorsey's secrets and Hanson's suppressed violent persona took over and had me hooked. I burned a whole evening (when I should have been doing something else) finishing up the book, as I didn't want to put it down. And I don't quite know how to explain it, but Hanson's personality evoked strong emotions that caused me to really care about what was about to happen.
As I head out for a getaway at the coast this weekend, the follow-up to Borderline is tucked in my bag. I have no doubt it'll be finished by this time tomorrow...
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