It may be funny to hear City's Italian wine connoisseur ask a customer what type of "swine" they would like with their meal once or twice, but when it becomes a well that Wenzel goes back to over and over it gets a little grating. And his continuous ribbing of foreign accents and names (like Clayton's teenage Asian mistress Wey Tu Yong (just say it out loud, you'll get it)) make you wonder at what point he's going to dust off the old "chicken flied lice" bit. Luckily he doesn't. As for the Muslims in the story, with the exception of Ayla, there isn't a Muslim character (and there are plenty to choose from) that feels real like a real person. Rather they seem to have been created from loose sketches and generalizations. This may be the novel's biggest weakness, because one never fears for Kyle's wellbeing because he seems to have angered only a collection of stereotypes, not real people.
Ultimately, Gotham Tragic is a book that I probably won't remember a whole lot about a couple of months from now, but even with its flaws, damn if I didn't have a good time as I read it. It is a fine story, full of intriguing, albeit stock, characters and Wenzel's sharp dialogue and quick pace kept me coming back to find out what was going to happen to Kyle next. Wenzel may have overreached a little bit-not many writers are qualified to tackle such a sensitive issue like Muslim violence in a comedic novel-but ultimately he has created a fine set of characters, an intriguing web of situations, and even if he doesn't quite pull it all off, he has written a highly enjoyable novel.
