A darkly ominous crime thriller that takes readers on a nightmarish tour of Chicago’s seamy side.
In Gallagher’s noirish crime novel, a former detective tries to help the Chicago Police Department stop a string of grisly murders.
Maggie Quinn, a strong but vulnerable and mentally unstable ex-cop devastated by the death of her young daughter, comes back as a consultant to help catch the serial killer responsible for the murders of young women. The murderer strangles, slices open and literally disheartens his victims with surgical skill. It’s more howcatchim than whodunit; the rich, well-connected main culprit becomes identifiable early on, and the rest of the book dedicates itself to Quinn and her colleagues’ increasingly desperate efforts to pin the crimes on the arrogant, narcissistic but careful killer. Haunted by recurring nightmares, Quinn engages in an increasingly tense cat-and-mouse game with her prime suspect. In terse narrative and crisp dialogue, Gallagher sketches the city’s notorious corruption as well as cop culture in general. Virtually everyone is on the take, from newspapers to politicians to Quinn’s own father, doing time as a fall guy for the Chicago mob. Like the killer, they’re all crooked and crazy, just a little less so. Told from a woman’s perspective, the majority of the men come across as idiotic, evil, arrogant or some combination thereof, and women don’t fare much better. Trying to bring in the murderer, Quinn battles fellow cops and the city bureaucracy as much as external forces. “You think killers have no mercy, just try working with a bunch of twenty-year dicks,” she advises the rookie detective she’s helping with the case. The book fairly suppurates with repulsive sights and smells, as investigators, aka lab rats, collect specimens and samples, and medical examiners conduct autopsies. Despite a cliché or two, a double negative, a typo here and there, and an unconvincing hospital search scene, this tautly written but richly detailed novel contains many finely wrought passages and adept portrayals of minor as well as major characters and the city itself. To her credit, Gallagher avoids the typical Hollywood happy ending.
A darkly ominous crime thriller that takes readers on a nightmarish tour of Chicago’s seamy side.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2012
ISBN: 978-0985954109
Page Count: 390
Publisher: Brayer Publishing, LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.
A fifth-grade New Orleans girl discovers a mysterious chrysalis containing an unexpected creature in this middle-grade novel.
Jacquelyn Marie Johnson, called Jackie, is a 10-year-old African-American girl, the second oldest and the only girl of six siblings. She’s responsible, smart, and enjoys being in charge; she likes “paper dolls and long division and imagining things she had never seen.” Normally, Jackie has no trouble obeying her strict but loving parents. But when her potted snapdragon acquires a peculiar egg or maybe a chrysalis (she dubs it a chrysalegg), Jackie’s strong desire to protect it runs up against her mother’s rule against plants in the house. Jackie doesn’t exactly mean to lie, but she tells her mother she needs to keep the snapdragon in her room for a science project and gets permission. Jackie draws the chrysalegg daily, waiting for something to happen as it gets larger. When the amazing creature inside breaks free, Jackie is more determined than ever to protect it, but this leads her further into secrets and lies. The results when her parents find out are painful, and resolving the problem will take courage, honesty, and trust. Dumas (Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest: Episode 5, 2017, etc.) presents a very likable character in Jackie. At 10, she’s young enough to enjoy playing with paper dolls but has a maturity that even older kids can lack. She’s resourceful, as when she wants to measure a red spot on the chrysalegg; lacking calipers, she fashions one from her hairpin. Jackie’s inward struggle about what to obey—her dearest wishes or the parents she loves—is one many readers will understand. The book complicates this question by making Jackie’s parents, especially her mother, strict (as one might expect to keep order in a large family) but undeniably loving and protective as well—it’s not just a question of outwitting clueless adults. Jackie’s feelings about the creature (tender and responsible but also more than a little obsessive) are similarly shaded rather than black-and-white. The ending suggests that an intriguing sequel is to come.
In more ways than one, a tale about young creatures testing their wings; a moving, entertaining winner.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-943169-32-0
Page Count: 212
Publisher: Plum Street Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.
In the ninth book in the Bluford young-adult series, a young Latino man walks away from violence—but at great personal cost.
In a large Southern California city, 16-year-old Martin Luna hangs out on the fringes of gang life. He’s disaffected, fatherless and increasingly drawn into the orbit of the older, rougher Frankie. When a stray bullet kills Martin’s adored 8-year-old brother, Huero, Martin seems to be heading into a life of crime. But Martin’s mother, determined not to lose another son, moves him to another neighborhood—the fictional town of Bluford, where he attends the racially diverse Bluford High. At his new school, the still-grieving Martin quickly makes enemies and gets into trouble. But he also makes friends with a kind English teacher and catches the eye of Vicky, a smart, pretty and outgoing Bluford student. Martin’s first-person narration supplies much of the book’s power. His dialogue is plain, but realistic and believable, and the authors wisely avoid the temptation to lard his speech with dated and potentially embarrassing slang. The author draws a vivid and affecting picture of Martin’s pain and confusion, bringing a tight-lipped teenager to life. In fact, Martin’s character is so well drawn that when he realizes the truth about his friend Frankie, readers won’t feel as if they are watching an after-school special, but as though they are observing the natural progression of Martin’s personal growth. This short novel appears to be aimed at urban teens who don’t often see their neighborhoods portrayed in young-adult fiction, but its sophisticated characters and affecting story will likely have much wider appeal.
A YA novel that treats its subject and its readers with respect while delivering an engaging story.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2004
ISBN: 978-1591940173
Page Count: 152
Publisher: Townsend Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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