Clint Eastwood is Wes Block, a detective with what is pretty much a triple lifestyle. In one he is a cop, even a good cop. In the second he is father to his two daughters left to him by a wife that found another man. In the third, he is guy who like to visit prostitutes and get dirty. The three largely different sides of Wes Block come dangerously close to one another when he starts to investigate a serial killer who frequents the red light district. The killer is not only likely to be a former cop familiar with police procedure, but he also knows Wes Block.

Clint Eastwood gives a very fine performance as a man troubled on many fronts and trying to come to grips with it all. He has his signature emotionless face, but Eastwood has almost always made his characters plain, but only on the surface. He packs in many subtleties into a dark role which is nicely directed into a gritty film, by an obviously talented director/writer who has made surprisingly too few films. If this is a his debut, and it is very good for a first directorial effort capturing the noir atmosphere very effectively, I am almost itching to see what Richard Tuggle could come up with next, whether in this genre or not. 8/10

Rated R for grim violence and sexual content