We All Fall Down by Michael Harvey

Not as good as the last one

Published by Knopf, July of 2011

Michael Harvey's Chicago-based series features Michael Kelly, a one-time cop turned private detective who seems to have connections all over Chicago, from the Mayor's office all the way down to the street gangs. We All Fall Down takes place immediately after the previous book, The Third Rail (which I rated 4 stars out of 5) with very little explanation to get the reader up to speed. I just barely remembered the ending of the last book - I read more than a year and a half ago.

Michael Kelly finds out about a conspiracy to defraud the government of Chicago led by Mafia types and a top man in the Mayor's office. As he looks into it, he stumbles upon a drug dealing conspiracy gone bad and eventually it all links up with the release of a biological agent and an ensuing epidemic into a very tough Chicago neighborhood.

We All Fall Down is best during its descriptions of the epidemic and its impact upon Chicago, even though I have yet to figure out how and down and out ex-cop merited the all-star access he had to the top levels of Chicago's government, the top levels of the Homeland Security's bio-weapons team and a free hand to roam anywhere and everywhere in and out of a quarantine zone. Sadly, this book may be a "jump the shark" moment in this series.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: We All Fall Down.

Reviewed on November 19, 2011.