As Andrew Vachss has proven on several occasions, stories which turn on the sexual abuse and enslavement of children are the true horror stories of the mystery genre. We have a primal reaction to the content that pulls us out of our comfortable lives and imbues the details of the novel with an intensity which many readers find deeply disturbing and uncomfortable. The reason is obvious. Nothing is as defenseless as a child, and nothing is more tragic than the inevitable ruination of a child's spirit.

David Cray opens Little Girl Blue with a grim scene. Lt. Julia Brennan comes to a crime site where the victim is a nine year old girl frozen to death in Central Park. The evidence shows that the girl had been fleeing from something so terrible that she was willing to run exposed through the city and into the park. Without even raising a hand in violence the world of the pedophile has executed another victim. Brennan becomes determined to track down those responsible, and to give Little Girl Blue back her real name.

What follows is a story of justice and revenge. Brennan and her partner, Peter Foley find themselves one step behind someone who is determined to kill all the perpetrators of this crime and destroy the evidence. Foley, whose own daughter was kidnapped, resulting in his wife's suicide, is driven to hunt the perverse. But for Julia, his personal tragedy makes him a potential suspect. Even while working closely with her, he pursues his own hunt, heedless of the potential danger.

Such stories, built on the dark core of human evil are the true noir stories. Vachss's tales reveal a world where hope is futile and salvation is only accidental. David Cray builds a vision no less grim, but definitely less pessimistic. He dangles the possibility that at least some of the characters he lovingly portrays will be enlarged, not diminished by the tragedy. And that somehow, in the midst of a police procedural, there can be glints of healing.

Little Girl Blue provides a clinical distance which is both its most fatal flaw and the key to its success. After the girl herself is found, the next victims become the adults that people an underworld, rather than the children themselves. This deflection reduces stress and keeps the book accessible to the reader. On the other hand it makes the dark secret of its center a little less horrible than it should be. Child abuse is a prevalent problem which rarely receives the attention it should because it is too strong an issue to confront directly. Little Girl Blue is a fascinating start, but there are miles yet to go.

--Marc Ruby