At the City’s Edge
By Marcus Sakey
St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95
The mean streets of the fictional South Side Chicago neighborhood of Crenwood are the setting for Marcus Sakey’s second novel, a visceral crime-fiction thrill ride replete with warring gangs, dirty cops and crooked politicians that is equal parts morality tale, redemptive journey and down-and-dirty Wambaugh-esque police drama.
As in his debut novel, “The Blade Itself” (2007), the power of “At the City’s Edge” comes from Sakey’s masterful ability to fully immerse the reader in the turmoil of his protagonists’ troubled existences: in this case, Jason Palmer, an Iraq War veteran whose all-consuming guilt over the death of a soldier under his command caused him to be sent home with an “other than honorable” discharge; and disgraced Chicago police officer Elena Cruz — the first female to make the elite gang intelligence unit — whose brief indiscretion with a superior has landed her a tedious assignment inputting data and made her an object of ridicule.
Brought together by the death of Palmer’s brother Michael, a South Side bar owner whose murder is thought to be gang-related, Palmer and Cruz vow to solve the murder for different reasons. Palmer — a lone soldier “looking for something to fight for” — is forced to protect his orphaned 8-year-old nephew, Billy, the sole witness to the murder. Cruz believes she can resurrect her career by disproving the department’s belief that the murder was gang-related. But the two soon find themselves targeted by police and gangbangers alike — and the reason, if made public, could rock Chicago to its foundations.
Sakey’s extensive use of dark imagery and allegory, which creates a kind of narrative tapestry effect, is nothing short of brilliant. For example, Palmer sees his guilt as a “Worm” with razor sharp teeth consuming him from within, one bite at a time, and the gang-infested neighborhoods of Chicago are likened to an untreated malignancy:
“Empires die slow and from the inside. Like cancer. . . . Like here. At the city’s edge. We’re covered with tumors, but nobody’s looking.”
“At the City’s Edge” is as much a work of literary fiction as crime fiction, and fans of authors like George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane will find themselves applauding after this novel’s conclusion. Following the success of “The Blade Itself,” Sakey’s latest solidifies his position as the new reigning prince of crime fiction.
Stalked
By Brian Freeman
St. Martin’s Minotaur, $24.95
Set against the stark backdrop of Duluth, Minn., during the dead of winter, Brian Freeman’s third thriller to feature Police Lt. Jonathan Stride (after “Immoral” and “Stripped”) is as chilling as its setting, which, more often than not, involves subzero temperatures, ominous skies and blinding snowstorms.
Stride, recently returned from Las Vegas with a new lover in tow — homicide detective turned private investigator Serena Dial — finds life on the shores of Lake Superior more peaceful than it was during his brief stint in Sin City. But his and Dial’s quiet existence is soon shattered when Stride’s longtime partner, Maggie Sorenson, becomes the prime suspect in her husband’s murder. Forced to distance himself from the investigation because of their close friendship, Stride follows tangential leads and eventually uncovers a twisted underbelly of Duluth that he never knew existed — one of sadomasochistic sexual predators, underground sex clubs, rampant infidelity, blackmail and murder. But as he closes in on the real killer and gets closer to understanding his enigmatic partner’s complicated personal life, Dial becomes the stalker’s next target.
Although Stride is the saga’s obvious focal point, he takes a bit of a back seat in “Stalked” as Freeman devotes much of the novel to exploring Dial’s gruesome past and Sorenson’s intensely complex psyche and, via that, the subject of rape and the deep psychological effects it has on its victims. One of the novel’s most compelling motifs is masks: Outward appearances — of a city, a neighbor, a co-worker, even a longtime lover — can often be deceiving:
“You think if you look in someone’s eyes, you can see what’s in their heart. The fact is, you don’t have a clue.” Featuring a cast of realistic, three-dimensional characters; a truly terrifying villain; a serpentine plot; and ambiance so convincing you’ll want to wear a turtleneck sweater and long underwear, Freeman’s latest should be on the to-read list of anyone who enjoys novels by authors like Harlan Coben, David Baldacci and Jeff Abbott — a perfect blend of psychological suspense and crime fiction.
Gas City
By Loren D. Estleman
Forge, $24.95
An interesting change of pace from in-your-face, over-the-top thrillers is Loren D. Estleman’s “Gas City,” a story about a seemingly idyllic blue-collar city supported by an oil refinery that is thrown into turmoil when a number of unrelated events test the symbiotic — and highly illegal — relationship between the city’s chief of police and its local mob boss.
Still mourning his wife’s recent death, longtime Police Chief Francis X. Russell is faced with not only tracking down a serial killer who dismembers his victims and disposes of them in black garbage bags but also dealing with his own newly awakened conscience. After decades of profiting from an illicit agreement with organized crime, Russell has had a change of heart. But what kind of havoc will his decision wreak? The repercussions will affect everyone in Gas City.
Estleman’s spare dialogue; unhurried, self-assured storytelling style; and understated and profound use of symbolism (a hotel detective who uses a page of the Bible to roll a cigarette gets a “lungful of scripture” make this a novel to savor.
Killer Year: Stories to Die for . . . From the Hottest New Crime Writers
Edited by Lee Child
St. Martin’s Minotaur, $23.95
With debut novels from a bumper crop of outstanding new writers last year (including Derek Nikitas, J.T. Ellison, Marc Lecard and Chicago’s own Sakey and Sean Chercover), 2007 was undeniably a killer year for crime fiction. With that in mind, this brilliantly conceived anthology — described as a “sampler” by editor Lee Child — features short stories from 13 of last year’s biggest and brightest newcomers as well as three additional stories from veterans Ken Bruen, Duane Swierczynski and Allison Brennan. This collection has no weak links, but a few stories stand head and shoulders above the rest.
Chercover’s “One Serving of Bad Luck,” which features Chicago private detective Ray Dudgeon (introduced in his debut novel “Big City, Bad Blood”), is a hard-boiled thriller that revolves around a horrific car accident, a multimillion-dollar settlement and a wayward witness. “Runaway,” by Nikitas — a subtly nuanced chronicle of the misadventures of two 15-year-old boys in western New York who meet with a mysterious runaway girl — is equal parts coming-of-age tale and supernatural mystery. “Gravity and Need,” by Sakey, perhaps the collection’s most memorable selection, is a haunting, disturbing story of how misfortune tests the limits of a couple madly in love. Bill Cameron’s “Slice of Pie” is an irony-filled gem about an ill-tempered son protecting his naive mother from a perceived scam artist; and Toni McGee Causey’s uproarious “A Failure to Communicate” revisits Louisiana and the irrepressible Bobbie Faye Sumrall (from her debut “Bobbie Faye’s Very (Very, Very, Very) Bad Day”) as she takes down a group of bumbling thieves with some good old-fashioned sociopathic ingenuity and one well-placed fish hook.
“Killer Year” is not just an exceptional collection of crime fiction short stories but also a savvy promotional tool: Readers will undoubtedly find themselves seeking out any number of debut novels from the featured authors, be it Sakey’s “The Blade Itself,” Lecard’s “Vinnie’s Head,” Nikitas’ “Pyres,” or any number of others.
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Paul Goat Allen has reviewed mysteries and thrillers for BarnesandNoble.com, BookPage magazine and Publishers Weekly.
