Chasing the Dragon

This was my first Domenic Stansberry book. Being from the San Francisco Bay area, I thought he deftly captured the essence of the street life and the old italian neigborhoods. Loads of authentic atmosphere! The story moved quickly, and I read it in a few long sittings, unable to put it down. I'll probably read more of his work, but he's worth giving a try. IMHO J.Jenkins

Interesting characters who all inhabit and are comfortable in the gray area, great descriptions of San Francisco past and present, keen insight into relationships between Chinese and Italians as neighborhoods commingled and histories and cultures intertwined. This is a brutal book that brings to mind Pelecanos, though not quite as realistic or street wise. Also, not all of the plot lines are fully played out. Still, an interestng read that asks questions and forces you to think. One note: the typos in the hardback are inexcusable and will hopefully be cleaned up in the paperback version.

Intricate and suspenseful, Chasing the Dragon is an absorbing, well thought-out mystery. Stansberry is an excellent storyteller, rotating perspectives throughout the book, giving the reader a look into the mindset of good guys and not-so-good guys. He paints a vivid picture of San Francisco with its Chinatown, its shipping docks and its old Italian neighborhoods. The main character, Dante, is one that the reader grows to respect despite the shady work he does and atrocities with which he's involved. We sympathize with him and his lost love, Marilyn, hoping for a reunion. We also hope that he gets to the bottom of the murders that have touched his family. Stansberry masterfully weaves together several lives and their stories while ultimately surprising the reader in the end. After the book was finished, I found myself still thinking about Dante and the rest, wondering if they will ever be the same. Stansberry is a skilled writer. This book makes me want to read more of his work. From the onset, I was absorbed with the San Francisco scene and the possible underworld of that city-the criminals and the policemen that have to deal with them. I like novels that give me a good feel of a place-like I am right there with the characters. Stansberry does it well. This was definitely a good read. I highly recommend Chasing the Dragon.

After working for the San Francisco Police Department for seven years, Dante Mancuso wasn't satisfied the way a case ended up; he pursued it against the orders of his superiors. Internal Affairs booted him out on trumped up charges. The shadowy Company recruited him and has sent him on assignments around the world. His latest is that he should return to San Francisco, go to his father's funeral, and get reacquainted with old friends and his ex-girlfriend. He is to arrange a sting between the Wus (a Chinese family with legal and illegal businesses that use the Mancuso warehouse for temporary storage) and two drug traffickers Mason Wow and Yosek Faton (an ex con affiliated with the Nation of Islam). Dante learns that his father thought someone was out to kill him; he gave the negatives of pictures to his brother Sal who gave them to Dante. When Sal is murdered, Dante thinks it has to do with the pictures of illegal immigrants dead in a case on a ship. These pictures lead Dante back to why he was kicked off SFPD with hopes the truth will finally come out during the sting and its aftermath. The protagonist is a survivor and a man who didn't believe a killer's confession. This led him in to the world of the Company, where rules are made to be broken and operations are quasi-legal. His discovery of the truth about the man's death seven years ago changes nothing and he has to learn to live with his place in the world now. Domenic Stansberry has written an exciting crime thriller where actions are shades of gray and people are not always who they seem. Harriet Klausner