I’m half ready to become a big fan of Lawrence De Maria just on the basis of having read Sound of Blood. The other half is ready to cast him into utter darkness for a couple mistakes that seemed to me bush league.

The story concerns Jake Scarne, a New York private eye with military and police experience. Jake is no Philip Marlowe, smoking a lonely cigarette in a seedy office. Jake recently moved into the big leagues. He has a nice office, a beautiful secretary, an expensive apartment, and a babe-magnet car. He’s approached by a wealthy man named Sheldon Shields, who believes his son Josh has been murdered. Josh was a reporter working on a story about a mysterious Australian business tycoon, Victor Ballantrae. Jake’s investigations lead him into a world of corruption, violence, and sex. They also introduce him to Alana Loeb, Ballantrae’s associate, a beautiful, seductive, dangerous, yet strangely sympathetic character.

The treatment of characters is one the book’s greatest strengths. The people in this book breathe (at least until they stop). They’re alive and vivid. De Maria excels at this. I felt a strange sense of solidity in Sound of Blood, as if the world of this book were more real than that of most writers. That’s a major achievement, and I give De Maria full points for it.

But I had some quibbles, too. His diction slipped now and then, and he misused the expression, “begging the question” once. On the basis of the text, I’m guessing his politics lean liberal, though he doesn’t beat you over the head with it. Occupy Wall Street people will appreciate much of what he says about banking (with authority, it must be noted. He’s an old financial reporter). He also seems to believe there are more homosexuals around than there actually are.

My big complaint, though, concerns plotting. It’s a hallowed tradition of hard-boiled detective stories that the hero should be beaten up (or shot, or pushed over a cliff or something) at some point and come back raring to go due to his unusually tough constitution. And a storyteller can get away with one near miss in a car. But fully three times in this story Jake is saved from death, not by his fighting skills, not by the lucky appearance of a tough friend, but by sheer luck. That’s at least one time too many. The plotting is unworthy of the writing here.

Cautions for language, violence, and sex (particularly one graphic scene). De Maria shows great promise. This book is not only exciting, it’s emotionally moving. He’s an unusually talented writer. I look for good things from him.