A whispered confession and startling revelation leads to murder.  He calls himself “The Soldier.”  He wants the New York Post to herald his mission to the world.  He has brutally murdered two priests and vows to kill again.  The Pope is scheduled to visit in days.  Pressure from the archdiocese, the mayor and the police commissioner has NYPD Detective Sergeant Thornton Savage racing the clock to figure out why The Soldier is killing priests, and where he will strike next.

It is going to be hard to review EAST SIDE without revealing the key elements of the plot.  Therefore, I am going to avoid the actual mystery and focus on the characters.  Savage gives the reader excellent insight into the life of a NYPD detective.  It is immediately apparent that John Mackie spent a good deal of his life with the NYPD.  His images are vivid and captivate the reader.  The Soldier is equally likeable.  It is a rare occasion when I actually cheer a killer on, but in this case, I couldn’t help myself.  This led to a dilemma, I liked both the law and the criminal, but only one can win.  With the battle lines set, I refused to put the book down until the very last page.