Aleas's debut barrels forth at the speed of one of the Manhattan taxis its protagonist frequently catches and contains some whiplash-inducing plot twists. John Blake,an NYU dropout turned PI,is stunned to learn that his high school girlfriend,Miranda,who he thought went to medical school and then on to lead a tame life in the Midwest,actually became a stripper. Even more shocking—she's been murdered. Angry and confused,Blake looks into Miranda's past,beginning at a 10th-rate strip joint owned by some unsavory characters. A dancer there helps him at her peril,and he endures some beatings himself as he nears the surprise conclusion. Still,despite the seedy settings,Aleas's writing is more tinged with insight than blood;Blake reflects that "there is such a thing as... a sense of duty to the things of your past,even if they're not quite as beautiful as you remember." Gritty New York streets and scummy apartments flash by briskly,but Aleas has a detective's eye for detail,which allows him to create some atmospheric scenes (when Blake walks through a busy section of Queens,he notes everything from the kosher certification sign in a bakery's window to a drugstore's "out-of-season Coppertone displays"). Tightly written from start to finish,this crime novel is as satisfyingly edgy as the pulp classics that inspired it.