Reviewed By: Ali Karim - RAM
Big City, Bad Blood
Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Sean Chercover
Class/Genre: Mystery Private Investigator Hard Boiled
William Morrow US $23-95
From the KillerYear 2006 debut team comes this tight little first-person Private Eye tale from Inner-city Chicago, the former crime capital of America. Chercover is a new name to me but one that I will be looking out for in the future. Big City, Bad Blood introduces Chicago PI Ray Dudgeon, a former newspaper reporter involved in a case to protect a movie man - Bob Loniski a prosecution witness going to court against a suspected member of the Chicago underworld. Like organized crime throughout the world, they have tentacles throughout society, legitimate, illegal and the areas that are shaded grey. Joining Dudgeon on his travels are a cabal of secondary characters, red-herrings and oddballs befitting any menagerie featuring the folk you find that border any criminal society. And what follows the bodies is a tale of corruption, blackmail and need for the mob to protect their dirty little secrets. So what came to Dudgeon as a simple body guarding detail becomes something far more sinister.
What makes this PI novel stick out is the realistic and world weary view of Dudgeon and his Chicago, so it came as no surprise to discover that Chercover is himself a Private Detective. This insight infuses the proceedings with the glare of reality, even if the body count and action at times made me duck for cover.
Worthy of being held against and compared with work by Steve Hamilton, Larry Block, Dennis Lehane, Robert B Parker and Robert Crais – Chercover shows that the PI novel is alive and kicking and that Chicago is a dangerous place, as long as you can dodge those bullets. I’m now awaiting news that Chercover finds a British Publisher because this as a debut is remarkable in a crowded genre – Ali Karim
Ali Karim - RAM
Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ali Karim - RAM
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