Secret Isaac — Jerome Charyn

Disguised as a bum and living in a flophouse, Sidel tries to save a streetwalkerThe ragged old man has a tapeworm in his gut and a room at a nameless Whore’s Row hotel, but to those in the know, he is one of the most powerful people in New York. Once the first deputy of the police commissioner, Isaac Sidel has lived in impoverished exile ever since the death of his detective protégé, Manfred Coen. As he wanders the streets around Times Square, Sidel spies a prostitute with a fearsome scar: a letter D seared into her cheek. His pity stirred, he asks her name and buys her a meal. Afterwards, he sets out to destroy the man who branded her. Sidel’s target is a pimp with a love for James Joyce and a hand in the pocket of the police commissioner. Taking him down will mean upending the force that Sidel once served, but if the tapeworm doesn’t stop him, no crook can.