“The Benefits of Writing (and Reading) a Series”: A Review of Double Takedown, by Kevin G. Chapman

 

“The Benefits of Writing (and Reading) a Series”: A Review of Double Takedown, by Kevin G. Chapman (A Mike Stoneman Thriller, First Legacy Publishing, 2024). ISBN: 978-1-958339-21-3

In April 2022, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing the first book in what is now a six-book series. Righteous Assassin, which introduced Manhattan detective Mike Stoneman, is a hard-hitting police procedural that employs all of the tropes one would expect in this popular genre. Stoneman himself is a trope—single, impatient, difficult to please, untrusting, and intensely hard on himself. His job is his life, and he takes it seriously (just consider his name: Stoneman). Stoneman’s introduction is compounded by his being assigned a new partner, Jason Dickson—a fast-rising Black man, which leads to accusations of affirmative action over merit. Despite their lack of trust in each other (which creates a nice underlying tension in Righteous Assassin), they manage to work well enough together to capture a serial killer with a unique agenda.

At the time I wrote the review of Righteous Assassin, knowing there were already four other books in the series, I predicted that the author would slowly but surely take Mike Stoneman and develop him into the kind of nuanced, complex character that rises above the tropes and strictures of genre. After all, that is the great joy of undertaking the journey for both the writer and their readers with a multivolume narrative.

Although I have not read the other Mike Stoneman Thrillers—Deadly Enterprise, Lethal Voyage, Fatal Infraction, and Perilous Gambit—it is clear from Double Takedown that my prediction was correct, and some of the events that led to Stoneman’s changes pleasantly surprised me.

A lot has happened to Mike and Jason since the events of Righteous Assassin. Chapman delivers some of the details through multiple organic, strategically placed callbacks throughout the book to events on a cruise ship and surrounding football. There are also references to boundaries they have crossed, mistakes they have made, and the heat that they have taken, primarily from their boss.

Their latest case(s) draw from the worlds of musical theatre and drag shows, internet influencers, and exotic drug and exclusive party culture. While there are numerous overlaps between these high-stakes, complicated worlds, Chapman distinctly describes them, crafting detailed landscapes in which his heroes can show different aspects of their personalities.

This time around, Stoneman and Dickson have abundant help from their spouses. Mike’s now wife, Michelle, was introduced as the medical examiner in Righteous Assassin, a position she still holds. Jason’s wife, Rachel, has recently moved from being an EMT to working in cable news. They have a three-year-old son, JJ, and live with Rachel’s mother, which makes for a less than ideal situation.

The opening of Double Takedown takes place at Lincoln Center during a fundraiser, where the two couples are dressed to the nines and enjoying their first night out since the pandemic. Both Michelle and Rachel’s skills come in handy, and, in Rachel’s case, this garners her attention and opportunity.

The book then moves a year ahead. The trial for what seems to be a straightforward case of poisoning of a lead actor in the multiple Tony Award–winning Godfather musical by his director is well underway when a controversial ex-cop (a callback to the racial discrimination roots of Righteous Assassin) turned private investigator throws Mike and Jason’s methods of investigating the case and arrest into question.

As their always-upset supervisor and the district attorney urge the detectives to let it go, especially after the jury finds their (only) suspect guilty, Mike and Jason are assigned another case, involving the fatal drug OD of a social media influencer with multiple bedmates and a penchant for pushing the boundaries of drug experimentation. Through this storyline, we are introduced to a high-powered financier and his wife (in the midst of a contentious divorce), a YouTube hippie called the Pharmacist, and several more characters from the worlds of musical theatre and social media influence. It is clear that Chapman has done his research in all of these areas (although I have zero experience in the drug world, and little in the world of the 1%, I am a veteran of the musical theatre world).

Not willing to let a (possibly) innocent man go to prison for murder, Mike and Jason, primarily on their own, but with help from a cast of well-drawn beat cops who are also working the drug OD case, follow threads that lead them to a possible suspect at the heart of both of these cases (hence the novel’s title).

Double Takedown could have an alternate title—Family Affair. A good portion of the book involves weekend get-togethers with the two married couples, Michelle’s Broadway-aspiring niece, Star (who is a freshman at NYU), and one of Star’s musical theatre friends with an intimate knowledge of the drag scene. Over lots of takeout and home-cooked meals, this group of six try to put the pieces together, as the body count goes up and the odds increase that an innocent man is sitting in prison, in part because of the two detectives not looking at other suspects. This group-mind family situation is in some ways refreshing, moving away from the Michael Mann–fueled trope of the insular, damaged cop who drives around the city at night to the minor chords and electronic drum riffs of jukebox rock and is absent even when he is home.

A story of redemption, family politics, dreams achieved and dashed, and the foibles of modern internet culture, Double Takedown is less the gritty, trope-filled crime procedural that is Righteous Assassin. There is more levity, pop-culture referencing, and semi-downtime for the detectives. The tensions between them have all but evaporated, although their personalities are still distinct, and they do not always see eye to eye. With Jason’s future as a detective in question due to pressure from his wife (and his pursuit of a master’s degree in public administration), it seems clear that the growth arcs of Chapman’s two lead characters are not yet complete, offering the possibility of future books with new macro and micro dynamics.

Chapman’s skill as an author has been acknowledged with the following awards: the 2024 CLUE Award Grand Prize (best suspense/thriller of the year); 2021 Kindle Book Award (best mystery/suspense); 2022 CLUE Award, best police procedural, and 2023 CLUE Award, best suspense/thriller; Finalist for RONE Award, NEIA Mystery Award, and the Kindle Book Award.

If you are looking for a crime procedural series in which to sink your teeth, there are six great reasons to do so with Kevin Chapman’s accolade-garnering Mike Stoneman Thrillers.