Review: The Chicago Way

The Chicago Way

by Michael Harvey

303 pages

My mom and I picked up this book off the "buy two get a third free" table at Barnes and Noble a couple weeks ago. We each picked one book then needed a third. As we were browsing we picked this one up, read the back (which looked intriguing), saw that John Grisham pimped it on the front, and I needed a book with a city, country, or continent in the title for WBC so we got it. And I got to read it first.

This book is about Michael Kelly, an ex-cop turned Private Investigator in downtown Chicago. His former partner, John Gibbons, who he hasn't seen in years, shows up at his office on day to get his help on a attempted murder/rape case that occurred years before and was somehow "lost" and never solved. The girl who had been the victim had come to John recently since he was the one who had found her and originally arrested the suspect (who was released for some unknown reason). Later that night, Gibbons was found murdered. Michael Kelly began investigating the murder of Gibbons, the attempted murder/rape cold case, and serveral other murders that seem to somehow all be connected.

I got so into this book! The writing style was very fitting for a Chicago, Irish P.I. so I fell right in with the character. And the ending, oh I didn't see this one coming at all! It was a great example of the "good guys" not always being good and "bad guys" not always being so bad, and I kind of love that. I've already told my mom that this book was definitely worth reading, told my husband that he should read it (he's not really much of a reader so it's tough finding things that he might like!), and I put Michael Harvey's second book on my PaperBackSwap wishlist! And maybe I'll even start watching Michael Harvey's show Cold Case Files on A&E, which he hilariously plugged in the book. Hey, can't blame a guy for getting new people to watch his show!

9 out of 10 stars.

Sookie Stackhouse #5

Title: Dead as a Doornail

Author: Charlaine Harris

number of pages: 295

Yay! Another 15 points for my Winter Book Challenge for reading a book in a series and the one following it! See previous posts for background on the Sookie Stackhouse series.

In this book, someone is "randomly" shooting people in the town of Bon Temps, LA. Sookie, of course, knows that the shootings aren't random because each person who has been shot is two-natured, i.e. a supe or supernatural being. Sookie herself has had part of her house burnt down and has been shot. So she's out trying to figure out who's trying to kill all the supes, especially since her brother (fresh from some bites) is now a supe and is under suspiscion.

Meanwhile, the packmaster of the Shreveport (nearby city) werewolves has died and a new leader of the pack (vroom, vroom...alright I just couldn't resist!) must be appointed. Sookie is approached by Alcide (son of one the of candidates for packmaster, and a friend of Sookie's from book 3) to come to all the "election" gatherings since she is a Friend of the Pack. Also, the challenger to his father is suspected of cheating and Sookie with her telepathy could bring that to light.

Alcide and Sookie have been potential love interests for the past couple of books but have always had some things get in the way (like Bill and Alcide's crazy on and off girlfriend Debbie), but I love him. I wish that things could work out between them because he's shown as being caring, kind, and protective (in a good way) to Sookie. I felt SO bad for him in this book because a lot of things happened that probably just crushed him. I'm hoping that things work out a little better for him in the next book! But, in Sookie's world, nothing seems to work out neatly. It will probably be a few weeks before I get to the next one since I have other books to read for the Challenge but I'm still looking forward to it!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.

Sookie Stackhouse Series #4

Title: Dead to the World

Author: Charlaine Harris

number of pages: 291

I don't know what it is about vampires, but something about them draws me in. I loved the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, loved Twilight, and now this. Maybe it's the power and passion that their stories usually have? Or maybe I just like living in a world with a little danger in it for a while, I don't know. But these books supply a nice vampire fix.

This book is the fourth in the Sookie Stackhouse (or Southern Vampire) Mystery series. These books follow Sookie Stackhouse, a 20-something girl who lives in a small town in Louisiana and, oh yea, she just happens to be telepathic. Recently, with the release by the Japanese of a synthetic bottled blood substitute, vampires have "outed" themselves by coming forward and revealing that they are real but hey, that's okay, because now there's a handy dandy fake blood so they don't have to kill people. In the first book, a vampire (Bill) moves to the small town (Bon Temps) and him and Sookie end up in a relationship, which introduces a whole vampire (and other supernatural beings) world to Sookie. These books are really about her and how she deals with her relationships and her life in general since being exposed to all the supernatural stuff. The first book is what the first season of HBO's True Blood show is based on. I've seen a few episodes but haven't really gotten into it really.

Specifically in the fourth book, Sookie has broken up with Bill, separated herself from the local vamps, and has made a New Year's Resolution to not get beat up this year (since hanging around vampires and their issues tends to lead to beatings). About 4 hours into the new year, Sookie is driving home and sees Eric, one of the high up vamps of her area) running around half naked and confused. A coven of witches has come into to town and their leader wanted Eric (in a lustful way) and all his businesses (in a "I want your money" way) and since he refused, she cast a spell which made Eric lose his memory. Sookie gets sort of trapped into keeping him at her home for a few days until the spell can be reversed which leads to her finding out that Eric is not so bad when he doesn't know himself. He's romantic and affectionate, and not out to exploit Sookie's power (since someone with telepathy could come in handy to a vampire, although her power doesn't work on them she can still read humans' minds) which are all new traits to Eric. A relationship of sorts begins between them.

Meanwhile, the other vamps under Eric join with the Weres and Supes (werewolfs and other supernatural creatures, or shape-shifters - hey, since vampires exist, so does everything else right?) come together which is very unusual since they usually hate each other, to devise a plan to bring down the evil witch coven. A battle ensues, in which Sookie was very helpful even though she didn't want to be involved, and lesser evil beats greater evil.

I'm not totally head-over-heels about these books so I'm fine putting some time between each in the series, but they are fun, quick reads and Charlaine Harris has made up an interesting world to be in for a while. Vampires becoming 'mainstreamed' isn't something I've read before which makes it new and different. Plus, I was just coming down from my initial Twilight high when I read the first one, so that was a good jump back into some adult novels while still getting a dose of vampire.

6.5 out of 10 stars (just because I think that the 3rd on was a little better than this one)