The scenery is good, but this sort of thing can't survive on scenery alone. In fact the author has a whole mess of notions he's trying to stuff in: protest and poverty and stereotypes and sex work and social inequality (financial district, remember?) With a giant heaping dose of cynicism to wash it down. (Jim Wedderburn is a pimp.) It rapidly goes overdone, both too metaphorical and too blatant. Not successful.