Down to No Good -- Eric Javorsky

When Down to No Good opens, private-eye Charlie Miner is dead.  This might not be easy for anybody else to overcome, but it's not too tough for Charlie, even though he has three bullet holes in his head.  He's a hard man to kill, and he has some interesting abilities once he returns to life.  He can perform a sort of astral projection, in which he leaves his body, and he can also reenter his body through an opening like an eye and repair it.  He doesn't know how he does these things, but if you want to learn a little more, you can check out his first appearance in Down Solo.

In this book, the point of view alternates between Miner's first person and the third-person narrative that focuses on Miner's friend David Putnam, a cop.  Both Miner and Putnam have serious drug problems, and this plays a big part in the story, which involves a psychic who's been helping out the police with some vague but amazingly accurate information about some cases they've been having difficulty in solving.  She also makes some accurate predictions about terrible crimes that are going to happen.  A genuine psychic in a story about a p.i. like Miner wouldn't be a surprise, but is she genuine or not?  And if she's not, what's her game?  It's complicated.

Down to No Good is a fast-moving story, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, and it kept me flipping the pages at a rapid rate.  It's also short, a great virtue in these days of bloated thrillers.  If you're like me, you'll close this book ready to see what Javorsky comes up with next.