At the City's Edge by Marcus Sakey
>> Friday, June 25, 2010
At the City's Edge by Marcus Sakey
Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 341
Challenges: none
Source: Purchased used
The Short Version:
Iraq war veteran Jason Palmer and Chicago cop Elena Cruz try to solve the murder of Jason’s brother and keep his young son safe.
Why I Read It:
I thoroughly enjoyed Sakey’s first book (The Blade Itself) as did The Hubster so continuing with his next book was an easy choice.
The Book:
Jason Palmer is home from Iraq via a less than honorable discharge. He’s not really ready to move on with his life but when his community activist brother is murdered, Jason suddenly finds himself responsible for his 8 year old nephew who witnessed the crime and back in the role of soldier trying to keep them both alive.
Elena Cruz is a Chicago cop who is trying to earn her way back into her job and the respect of her fellow officers after making the mistake of letting her personal and professional lives get too mixed up. She knew and respected Michael Palmer and as one of the first responders on the scene is eager to solve his murder.
The Chicago neighborhood is struggling to survive despite becoming more and more of a gang war zone. Jason and Elena struggle to trust each other long enough to find out who is really responsible for Michael’s murder. There are rival gangs as well as corrupt politicians, cops and activists and they’re running out of people to trust besides each other.
Can Jason and Elena keep themselves alive long enough to protect his nephew and find out who is really behind Michael’s murder and why?
My Thoughts:
This one is a little bit of crime fiction, mystery and suspense all rolled into one. Neither Jason nor Elena is fully sympathetic as a hero, but their mutual goal of protecting the innocent child makes it easy for the reader to cheer them on.
The story moves along with plenty of twists, turns and surprise betrayals, and by the time the final third of the book comes along it’s a like a long accelerating downhill on the rollercoaster to the final confrontations.
Jason’s battle with his own demons while caught up in the immediacy of his own and his nephew’s survival makes the gritty Chicago setting feel almost parallel to his flashbacks to his time in Iraq. The difference is that this time it’s his nephew he needs to protect and he’ll do anything to avoid repeating the mistakes of his past.
Elena is also a strong character and while the predictable romantic tension between she and Jason is there, it’s not all that distracting to the overall pace of the story.
While I may have liked The Blade Itself just a tad better, this is still an entertaining and fast paced book. I’ll be passing this one along to The Hubster and have already added Marcus Sakey’s next book to my shopping list.
Rating 3.5/5
No stars – I couldn’t even finish it
1 star – I didn’t like it but I managed to finish it.
2 stars – It was OK. Not good, but seriously just OK.
3 stars - I liked it. I didn’t think it was great, but I thought it was good entertainment.
4 stars – I really liked it. I really think you might like it too.
5 stars – It was amazing. I’d recommend this to just about anyone.
3 comments:
One of the things I like so much about Marcus' work is the fact that his protags are never totally sympathetic. He doesn't paint them to be total innocents in own their lives. Most of us hope we never make mistakes that will result in some of the terrors Marcus writes about, but it does make you sit back and think about just why you make the choices you do.
Hope you enjoy GOOD PEOPLE as much as I did! :-)
I met Marcus Sakey! I am sure he doesn't remember me, but I remember him and his hair. If you have seen a picture of him, you will know what I mean :-)
It seems like every single one of his books is going to be made into a movie.
Jen: Marcus is just all around awesome. Thanks for encouraging me to finally get The Blade Itself off my bookshelf and read it. I'll be picking up a copy of Good People soon. I definitely pass Marcus' books on to The Hubster.
Aarti: LOL - I follow Marcus Sakey on Twitter so I've seen his profile picture, but have never seen him in person. Of the two books of his I've read, I think both could be good as movies.
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