The main protagonist is Jon Kessler, a chief engineer for the office of the Manhattan borough president in the Sanitation Division. For the years 1991-1995 the author held the identical position for the City of New York. Based on this fact alone I am persuaded that the plethora of technical data relating to the sewage treatment facilities in that area have a basis in fact. Is this important? Apparently it is, because this seems to be the focus of the entire book, with the murder and subsequent investigation being overwhelmed by it.

Joel Haney, a short timer nearing retirement is a foreman of a sewer work unit. He is an aspiring film director so is rarely without his camcorder. In an obvious bit of foreshadowing he accidentally leaves it on and photographs something that he shouldn't have. He is subsequently killed and his body is dropped into the sewer. New York's finest respond, and the Homicide Detective Team of James Mercado and Janine O'Connel are assigned to the case.

Meanwhile, Jon has prepared a report that highlights the inadequacies of one of the sewage plants. His immediate supervisor tries to stonewall Jon's findings, and the plot thickens. Add in greedy land developers and corrupt politicians on the one hand, and the Environmental Protection Agency and Jon (who is just trying to do what is right) on the other hand, and the story's conflict is established.

Along the way to the resolution, I was distracted by the way many of the characters were developed. The author seems to rely heavily on the exaggeration of character flaws as a means of defining the characters' persona, which dampened the realism. The writing was ponderous and pedantic with little or no suspense. And for the most part, the syntax was awkward, with a surfeit of adjectives and adverbs which obstructed the pace of the book.

This story about the New York City Sanitation Division does, however, earn my personal nomination for the story that conveys the most information about a subject, which arguably holds the least interest. It would undoubtedly make great "parallel reading" for an Introductory Civil Engineering class.

--Thea Davis