The Wolves of Fairmount Park by Dennis Tafoya

"...it always matters. Everything right that you do, it doesn't always make things better. Sometimes, I don't know. Sometimes it does just hurt everyone, but maybe that's how you know it was the right thing to do."                            

                             Brendan Donavan

After two boys are brutally gunned down in front of a drug house on the wrong side of Philadelphia, two families struggle to make sense of a crime that left one boy dead, and another boy, Michael Donovan, in a coma and fighting for his life. 

Grieving for the loss of his son, Geo, George Parkman Sr. sets out immediately to enact revenge on the person he feels is responsible for Geo's death, Orlando Donovan, the drug-addicted Uncle of the surviving boy. Concerned that Orlando's half brother, Officer Brendan Donovan, will do all he can to cover for Orlando's perceived involvement, George Parkman Sr. sends a seriously disturbed private investigator to take care of the problem. 

And to make matters worse for Orlando his half brother, Brendan, even thinks he knows more than he's willing to tell. 

Why were the boys at a known drug house? Why did they have so much money with them? What is the connection between these boys and a turf war between two rival gangs? Is it possible the boys were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, trying to do the right thing?

With the remembrance of his painful past used as a guide and a desire to see things through to the end, Orlando sets out alone to find the answers that will hopefully bring peace to the father of the murdered boy, and acceptance from a brother that he has desperately wanted to please for years. 

As the story unfolds you'll find a Detective who's career was built on the back of a known drug dealer,   and see first hand how the disguise of friendship can place shadows over the reality that surrounds you.  You'll see brothers reunited and a supposed loving relationship dissolve without a word being spoken by either party.  And you'll see death. Death being the constant reminder of the realities that surround the drug world.
Whether it be an innocent death or deserved, death will find its way into the streets of all those who willingly or unwillingly pass by.

The Wolves of Fairmount Park by Dennis Tafoya, is the most engaging book that I have read this year. I was fascinated by how many characters in this book demanded attention, and amazingly surprised that they all received a voice strong enough to be heard without pushing the story out of focus.   The Wolves of Fairmount Park may be dark in its reality, but if the book had lacked these details there would have been no emotional development between the readers and the characters.  For me it became an emotional journey. Emotional because I  wanted to see Orlando succeed in his efforts, and because regardless of how awful some of these characters were, their deaths were still difficult to endure.

We think we know how things should be, who our friends are and how to trust, but for them... their only friends were the drugs they relied on and the money they needed to find to buy more.

The Wolves of Fairmount Park is available on both the KINDLE and the NOOK.

Dennis Tafoya lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and is the author of two novels, Dope Thief and The Wolves of Fairmount Park, as well as numerous short stories appearing in collections such as Philadelphia Noir, from Akashic Books. He is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Liars Club, a Philadelphia-area writers group. 

*This book was read as part of an online book group with Goodreads.  Goodreads is a great place for you to keep track of your reading, make friends with people that have common reading interests as you and join in on discussions about books that you have read.  If you are interested, you can open a free account with Goodreads here.