THE ROACH

In Bruno’s moody thriller, a former masked vigilante searches for whomever stole—and donned—his crime-fighting suit as a killer stalks the city he once protected.

For decades, Reese Roberts was the Roach. He stymied and/or killed criminals in Iron City. One night in 1980, as the Roach stopped an assault on a woman, a bullet to the spine put him in a wheelchair permanently. Because the woman was Laura Garrity, the mayor’s daughter, Reese avoided jail time for his vigilantism and has maintained his secret for the past five years. He’s now getting by, thanks mostly to Laura’s help, though Reese is so unhappy he’s pondering suicide. His armored suit goes missing from the Roach’s “lair,” and newspaper articles about the Roach’s alleged comeback means there’s a copycat. Also in the news: A vicious killer in Iron City seems to be targeting people related to crimes the faux Roach has thwarted. Reese has to track down this homicidal villain before further lives are lost. Identifying the murderer, however, stirs up his past—including one dreadful revelation. Readers will certainly see shades of Batman in this novel, including Reese’s Batcave-esque lair. Nevertheless, Bruno builds characters with complex backstories, from Reese and Laura to teenage Isaac, whom Reese befriends. The story overall is somber; along with its gloomy histories is a dark setting—rain perpetually drenches Iron City, which largely consists of trash, dumpsters, and alleyways. The titular hero is indelible; Reese demonstrates how capable a person with a disability can be. At the same time, he’s a hard guy to like. He wallows in an apathy that has seemingly buried the valiant reason he originally became the Roach.

A grim but riveting deconstructed superhero tale.