This is a follow-up of The Black Book.

Detective Harney came back after recovery from a gunshot wound in the head and

was promoted to the elite SOS squad, the newest initiative of the city to

combat crimes in Chicago's south and west.

He soon found out what appeared to be a turf war between two Black gangs and

the death of a white teenage girl thought as a collateral damage in a

shoot-out, was really human-traffickers and pimps executing a runaway victim.

Meanwhile, clearing stuff out of his childhood home after dad, the former

Chief of Detectives, was put behind bars, Harney came across a little red

book, a ledger of payoffs from crooks for police protection.

He fought through personal traumas, internecine warfare, and enemy lines to

bring down a major international human-trafficking outfit.

To me, The Red Book, finished in two sittings, felt even more like MacDonald's

in eating, pop in music, or action pictures in movies. The page-turner doled

out suspense and gratification at a good pace all the way to the end.

I was happy to meet another truckload of new words and expressions in context.

But I have to say I enjoyed the previous book more as I don't find the

dialogues as engaging. The ledger, despite of the title, only appeared twice.

Also, it was repetitive to find the same villain, dad.