Moe Prager is retired from the NYPD in the 1970s because of an injury. He's still young and finding other pursuits. One pursuit finds him when he is asked to find a missing college student.

The story alternates between the late 1970s and present day, with Moe looking back on occasion to explain that time in his life.

As he discovers one odd item after another, the case becomes curiouser and curiouser, until he starts to fit the pieces together. Most of us will have figured out the main mystery not too far into the story, but we are reminded that it's the 70s, when some of us might not have.

Moe is a quiet, thoughtful guy, not given to heroics or pithy one-liners. He's also Jewish, which was unusual for the NYPD.

For me, his quiet approach was refreshing, but not refreshing enough for me to care a lot about him. I'm not sure I'll read another in the series - but I might, just to see where he takes it. ( )

Moe Prager was a cop until he wrecked his knee slipping on a piece of carbon paper in the squad room. Now he is limping around thinking about raising money to buy a wine store with his brother Aaron. While he was a cop, Moe found a missing little girl who had been brutalized and left for dead. Moe regarded it as luck but he was hailed as a hero and received a medal. Now Frank Maloney, a man with an ugly, insulting manner, wants Moe to look for his son who has disappeared. Because an extensive search has already been conducted, Moe is skeptical that he can do anything and is not persuaded by Maloney’s lack of interpersonal skills. Inevitably, Moe gets interested and does not realize what he has gotten into. The case is more than a simple missing person. It takes an ugly turn and works its way to an explosive conclusion.

Moe is smart, sarcastic, complex and tough, but not too tough. The plot is good. This is the first in Coleman’s Moe Prager series and I am giving it the ultimate recommendation: I am on to the second in the series. ( )

Superior writing, interesting characters, and an intriguing story. College student, Patrick Maloney, disappears. His father, a man with some clout in 1978 NYC on the surface seems to be doing everything possible to find him. Enter Moe Prager, retired/injured on the job street cop, who had the dumb luck to find a missing child once before. Prager immediately senses that not all is on the level with the father and despite having never made detective does his best to look into the case. He finds himself getting help from unlikely places and pushed away from others. Prager is his own man though and keeps at it through the ugly, unseemly underside of NYC. Throw in some romance, fascinating characters, fast-forward glimpses to modern day and a very rewarding epilogue and this book is a keeper. Can't wait to continue through the series. ( )

In the Afterwards of my edition (Busted Flush Press, 2008) the author states that while he had the basic story of Walking the Perfect Square for a while, he lacked the necessary skill to execute it until somewhere around 2001. Your mind automatically goes to the time shifts that the novel employs. That’s not the whole of it. The part of the story that takes place in 1998, in this case “the present,” is essentially a framing sequence with a few extra slices interspaced throughout. Any rough patches could easily be smoothed out with the first rewrite. It was the main story, which takes place in early 1978, that needed a deft touch.

Moe Prager, forced to leave the NYPD due to a freak accident, is antsy in premature retirement. Thanks to his biggest on-the-job success, the finding of a missing 7-year-old girl, he is invited to join the search for Patrick Maloney, a vanished college student. He has immediate reactions to many of those involved: dislike for the father of the missing man, attraction to the sister, and the feeling of being manipulated, in some cases by trusted friends and former colleagues. During the investigation Prager meets some unique and interesting people, and Coleman uses this opportunity to paint a vivid portrait of the New York City of 1978. The perfect backdrop, as it turns out, to bring into focus the life of Patrick Maloney. And to entice Moe Prager into becoming more entwined in the case than intended. Inevitably, it leads to some regrettable decisions.

Though Coleman may have had wait until he’d acquired the dexterity needed to write Walking the Perfect Square, that doesn’t mean those skills were yet completely refined. There are times when Prager’s musings get in the way of the scene. When the characters interacting is more interesting than the internal monologue, the reader tends to skip ahead. And then there’s a gaffe while winding down the book. After the first revelation is unveiled, Prager wastes the day lounging around with a girl. The experienced reader suspects the author needed time for something catastrophic to happen offstage. And even if that wasn’t the case, once you’ve started to reveal the solution--and have indicated that there are more reveals coming--the nature of the genre carries an expectation that you to get to them as soon as possible. Suspense cannot be allowed to turn into frustration.

But make no mistake, Coleman was absolutely right. Superior skills were needed. He had to resolve all the varied elements of the story in 1978, do so with interest and empathy and a sense of satisfaction--but with very little heart. The emotional impact had to be saved for the twenty-years-later epilogue, where the best of intentions gone wrong come home to roost.

Minor defects aside, it’s safe to say that Reed Farrel Coleman picked the right time to write Walking the Perfect Square. ( )

This author is a really good crime writer - I would have given the book more stars, but I like a little more complexity and action in my crime stories. Good word flow. ( )