That ‘slightly unfinished feeling’ that I came away from The Distance with was wiped out when I read this story because it’s pretty much a direct continuation of the previous book. It expands and enhances what has gone before whilst finding new things to explore.

Once again I put off reading this book because of the boxing background, but that’s all that the boxing is: background. There’s even less direct coverage of boxing in this book, it just sets the scene for a great noirish story of 1940s San Francisco.