Big City, Bad Blood
by Sean Chercover
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sean ChercoverEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-02-26
ISBN: 0061128686
Number of pages: 352
Publisher: Harper
Book Reviews of Big City, Bad Blood
Book Review: A Remarkable Debut Detective Novel
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a detective novel that is written tight, mean and with complete authority by an author who knows exactly how to impart distinct tonal quality. Big City, Bad Blood is a detective novel set in Chicago. It involves organised crime and is right on the money in the rich dialogue and the attitude of the characters. The violence is extreme and emphatic. It is the debut novel by Sean Chercover and marks him as an author of tremendous ability.
Chicago-based private detective Ray Dudgeon is hired by a Hollywood movie locations manager who is in a high state of anxiety. Bob Loniski inadvertently uncovered a phoney property scam that was set up by Frankie Di Marco, a local member of the Chicago Outfit. Other tenants of the apartment block involved in the scam have been dying as Di Marco's court appearance date nears and Loniski, as one of the witnesses for the prosecution, is terrified that he is going to be next.
Dudgeon knows how things work within the Outfit. He was an investigative journalist before he moved into the PI racket and he knows that if Di Marco is a made man - in other words, he has the head of the mob's blessing - then there's no point taking the body guarding gig. But when Dudgeon is assured that Di Marco is working independently of The Outfit he decides that he can take the job without the risk of putting himself up against half of Chicago's hard men.
His belief that the job would be a fairly straightforward one is shattered pretty quickly as other witnesses from the apartment building begin mysteriously dying. Then a narrow escape from a car bomb convinces him that Di Marco is playing for keeps.
The scale of effort with which Do Marco is putting into getting at Loniski and the other tenants suggests two things, Di Marco has backing from somewhere and the money behind his scam must be substantial. The most disturbing of these two facts comes in the backing that Di Marco must have. If he's working without the consent of the local Mob boss, then there's a real possibility that some sort of power play within The Outfit is about to go down.
Even though it looks as though Dudgeon has done his job to perfection in keeping his client alive, he's not convinced that Di Marco is finished. The stakes are constantly being raised and, when word reaches Dudgeon that a couple of known mob hitters have come to town, his suspicions are confirmed in the worst possible way.
The tone is bleak, the dialogue is sharp and believable and the plotting maintains a consistent focus. Chercover writes with an easy assuredness that gives the story an authentic realism that translates wonderfully well in the interactions of the characters.
Big City, Bad Blood is a deeply involving detective story that doesn't let the reader down as the plot moves along at a steady pace. The descriptive shabbiness of Ray Dudgeon's life feels perfectly appropriate and the role of the Chicago Outfit provides real menace without any of the cliched parody that can sometimes creep into a mob-based story.
Big City, Bad blood is a delicate balancing act with the promise of violence a constant presence throughout the book contrasted with a determined, somewhat soulful character in Ray Dudgeon. Although detectives of Dudgeon's type are common in the detective genre, Chercover gives him a solid gritty moral code and, towards the back half of the book, the kind of sidekick who could provide some great moments of interest in the future.
Big City, Bad Blood is a stand out debut detective novel and Sean Chercover has established himself as an author to follow.
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