Just when I think I have already found the best debut to read before the year comes to a close, another one pops up and another and another and I am now right chuffed. I reckon the book fairy is looking down on me like a precious child and I have a good feeling that by Christmas, there will be a few more gems of a book for me to discover. This is the life, aah, but for now, please allow me the liberty to swoon on Michael Harvey.
Book blurb: The Chicago Way rips the classic crime novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett from their 30s origins and slams them like a brass fit into the teeth of modern-day Chicago.
Ex-cop turned Private Investigator Michael Kelly is hired by his former police boss, John Gibbons, to investigate a brutal rape and battery, an eight year old crime which was never solved because Gibbons was ordered to forget it. The following day Gibbons is shot dead.
Kelly's quest to find his friend's killer and to bring the perpetrator of the rape to justice forces him to confront the Mob, corrupt policemen and a serial rapist awaiting execution on Death Row.
Brief biography on the author: Michael Harvey is a writer, journalist and documentary producer, as well as the co-creator of documentary televisions series Cold Case Files on the cable channel A&E Network. He has received national and international awards for his work, including an Academy Award nomination. He earned a law degree from Duke University, a master's degree in journalism from Northwestern University and a bachelor's degree in classical languages from Holy Cross College. He lives in Chicago.
This radio interview on npr with the author examines the author's reasoning behind his writing interests.
The Chicago Way was released in hardcover on 21 August 2007 in the USA and is the first in a series starring a tough-talking Irish cop turned private investigator Michael Kelly.
There are three things that grabbed my attention when I embarked on this read and they are 1) it only took the first page to pull me in and 2) the writing was slick, smooth, like that, and 3) I like the Chicago setting.
This writer can write, period. The Chicago Way puts hardboiled crime fiction on a high pedestal and I very much urge anyone to pick this book up and read it. When a book is good, it is good. Reviews are unnecessary, just read it and remember the name Michael Harvey.
You can navigate your way round the author's official website here to find out more about him and his works. Happy reading.
Rating: 5/5
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