a very dark and gritty urban noir story. i really empathized with blum and his attempt to balance his career and personal life. i love police procedurals that actually give depth to the main character!

Sweet Thing's gritty portrayal of 1999 DC captures that time and place of Detective Alex Blum's world. The tension mounts as Blum's pursuit of truth intertwines with his personal desires, leading him down a path where lines blur and consequences loom large. With its rich atmosphere, sharp dialogue, and complex characters, Sweet Thing is a great noir thriller that kept me guessing until the very end.

A fine return to DC-based crime fiction. Frank Marr makes a cameo (actually, a bit more than a cameo). Fans of Swinson’s trilogy of DC crime novels will find a lot to like here. It’s an interesting and engaging plot, with morally-gray characters navigating divided loyalties and their sense of duty.

This one maybe didn’t feel quite as good as the Marr novels, but it was nevertheless an engaging and enjoyable read. Recommended.

Sweet Thing is a police procedural that is gritty and dark by default set in the late 1990s in D.C. Homicide Detective Alex Blum has fallen hard for the woman living with his C.I., Artie. When a known party man is found dead and soon after Artie is also found dead, the tale of drugs and money begins to unfold.
Sweet Thing refers to the woman entangled with the dead men and she becomes the obsession of Alex. Like a drug, the woman will get into Alex's veins and take him places he would otherwise not go. Alex is aware his moral compass is derailed by is unwilling and unable to stop. Eventually, his drug of choice will catch up with him as well.
There is a small portion of the book dedicated to Alex's relationship with his mother who is on the decline via dementia which isn't really fleshed out enough and I found it a distraction to the flow of the plot. On the other hand, the authors stint as a police detective brings a reality to the scenes and characters. I've enjoyed several of his books featuring the Frank Marr character who had a cameo in Sweet Thing.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Mulholland Books for providing an early e-arc via Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to Novel Suspects Insiders Club and Netgalley for this novel. All my opinions are entirely my own. I was sent this book in exchange for my honest review.
This book is set in the year 1999 a little bit before 2000. We are following a cop who ends up dating the girlfriend of a guy who helped deal drugs and was the cop's informant while he was in narcotics. The cop decides to pin two murders on Trevor since it might have been his new girlfriend Celeste. Celeste OD's after Trevor is sent to prison. The cop ends up dying from gunshot wounds.