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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.
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