City of Windows by Robert Pobi

A unique hero American cop trying to catch a terrorist assassin in snowy New York. 

He is almost like the Bionic Man - one eye, one arm, one leg. He is also an astrophysicist professor who isn't too keen on people. Except that he has a large family of fostered and adopted children all with prosthetic limbs, whom have been gathered by his nursing wife. He once was a police officer in the City of Windows (New York) until his injuries required him to leave, but he is called from retirement when an assassin's bullet kills his former partner.

His skills include a remarkable spatial awareness ability to calculate distance and so he can gauge where the gunman was when he delivered the fatal shots. He has a new partner, someone he likes because she doesn't talk too much, although she has an almost psychic ability to answer questions he has not yet asked. There is a warmth and humour in their relationship, despite him being a curmudgeonly thing.

This is a deep and well written book. The characters are fully formed with their personal quirks and are very human. The details about prosthetic limbs, and how to live with them, are fascinating in themselves, as well as the day to day consequences of being very scarred and physically damaged. How a simple thing such as taking a shower can be so different for disabled people is realistically demonstrated, and in what order the prosthetics are removed. All adding layers to the interesting character.

As for the hunt for the terrorist sniper, this is done with great pace, action and tension in equal measure. His colleagues and family are at risk so the search remains taut. Lots of FBI procedure and Americanisms. A great plot with a look at certain other current social issues in the United States, such as racism, which makes the story current and a fully rounded book.

​This is the first of a series about this character. I can see this being a long-running one. 

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​Published by Hodder and Stoughton 6 August 2019.
Advance review copy supplied by the publisher.