The Chicago Way (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
by Michael Harvey
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Book Summary Information
Author: Michael HarveyEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-07-08
ISBN: 0307386287
Number of pages: 303
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of The Chicago Way (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Book Review: Generic Debut Neo-Hard Boiled Thriller
Summary: 2 Stars
If you're looking for a reasonably entertaining and utterly disposable modern crime novel, this should suffice. As the debut novel from the co-creator of the TV show "Cold Case Files," it should come as no surprise that the Chicago-set story is sparked by the reinvestigation of a buried old crime, and that advances in forensic science play a large role in the plot. The tone is neo-hard boiled, with the author striving for the stylish patter of Raymond Chandler, and generally sounding forced. What might work in the mouth of Bogart generally sounds contrived in the mouth of Michael Kelly, the book's Irish-American ex-cop protagonist.
Kelly is a pretty blah hero, a cardboard collage of hundreds of other fictional private-eyes: Ex-cop? Check. Best detective on the force? Check. Railroaded out of the force? Check. A manly man? Check. Grew up tough? Check. Irish-American or Italian-American? Check. Knows how to box? Check. No apparent good friends? Check. Attractive ladies all over him? Check. Random cultural quick? Check (he likes to read ancient Greek). And so on. There's nothing to really distinguish him from hundreds of his fictional fellow detectives, and nothing about him is likely to linger in the reader's head once the final page is turned. (Except maybe that he drinks tea.)
The story kicks off with a surprise visit from Kelly's old partner (also retired from the force), who is looking into an old unsolved case of his. Only the rape and stabbing isn't just unsolved, it's been erased, and the victim has come back years later wanting to know why. This is a reasonably interesting premise with one major flaw -- the perp has to either be someone relatively powerful, or connected to someone with the access and juice to sweep a major crime completely under the rug. Since there's only one character who fits that bill, it's pretty easy to figure out that he/she is deeply involved, thus robbing the story of a good deal of its dramatic tension. (And in one of a length list of coincidences, it also doesn't help that Kelly knows this person.)
Rather conveniently (since DNA figures prominently) Kelly's childhood buddy just happens to be a forensic guru with full lab skills, recently assigned to an interagency Rape Task Force. This friendship allows the story to continue, as Kelly milks her for all kinds of information and help. The coincidences and connections swirling around Kelly just multiply over the course of the story, getting increasingly hard to believe. And once a death-row serial killer enters the plot, things just get too ridiculous to take seriously. The author struggles mightily to toss various red herrings in the reader's path in a clumsy attempt to preserve a few "gotcha" twists about the identity of various culprits, but these prove to be totally ineffective. I don't read crime stories trying to figure out "whodunnit" before the detective can, but in this case, the major elements are pretty obvious.
In sum, the book passes the time easily enough, but it breaks no new ground in any direction. It may be that in subsequent books, Kelly will develop a little depth, or that Chicago will be more than a flimsy backlot set for the series, or that the author will move into more complex and plausible plotting, but it's doubtful I'll be picking any up to find out.
Summary of The Chicago Way (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)
Private detective Michael Kelly is hired by his former partner to solve an eight-year old rape and battery case long gone cold. But when the partner turns up dead, Kelly enlists a team of his savviest colleagues to connect the dots between the recent murder and the cold case it revived: a television reporter whose relationship with Kelly is not strictly professional; his best friend from childhood, a forensic DNA expert; and an old ally from the DA's office. To close the case, Kelly will have to face the mob, a serial killer, his own double-crossing friends, and the mean streets of the city he loves.Amazon Significant Seven, August 2007: Michael Harvey?s gritty debut, The Chicago Way, rips the classic crime novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett from their 30s origins and slams them like a brass fist into the teeth of modern-day Chicago. All of the pieces are here: Chandler?s Byzantine plots and tack-sharp dialogue; a smorgasbord of knuckle sandwiches to sate the die-hard Hammett fan; and a damaged dame (platinum blonde, natch), straight out of a James Cain roadside diner. Seemingly destined for noir greatness, The Chicago Way both respects its gnarled roots and catapults hardboiled crime fiction into a new century. --Jon Foro P.I. Michael Kelly's Chicago
So where does a detective go to quench his thirst in the Windy City? The author offers Kelly's top five places to get a pint.
Best pint of Guinness in the city. Besides, Kelly knows the owners. 2. Celtic Crossings, 751 North Clark Street
A print of James Joyce?s death mask hangs in a frame behind the bar. Around closing, it?s the liveliest-looking thing in the place. 3. Billy Goat Tavern, 430 North Michigan Avenue, Lower Level
A Chicago legend. And a good place to eavesdrop on the ink-stained wretches that make a living out of other people?s misfortune, also known as newspaper reporters. (Learn more about the Billy Goat when Kelly drops in for a drink in his second novel, due out in 2008.) 4. Hopleaf Bar, 5148 North Clark Street
Beer in three hundred different flavors. Need we say more? 5. Coq D?Or inside the Drake Hotel, 140 East Walton Place
Old school Chicago. Order an Executive Martini, made with eight ice cubes and poured from a brandy snifter. Then find yourself a cab home.
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