The Innocence Game by Michael Harvey

Taut Thriller - Until the End

Published in May of 2013 by Alfred A. Knopf

I have read three of Michael Harvey's five books. I read two in his Michael Kelly series. One of them was gritty and solid. I was disappointed in another one when it went over the top with a man-made plague devastating Chicago. But, when I saw this one was not a book in the Michael Kelly series I jumped on it because I think this author has real potential. Just to let you know, Michael Kelly is in this book, he just is not the main character.

The book is based on a real-life class at the Northwestern Medill School of Journalism that re-investigates criminal cases in which they believe that the defendant was wrongly convicted. Three students are brought in to this summer's program and they change the parameters a bit. Rather than re-opening a case, they decide to solve an unsolved murder. Once they start digging they start to be pressured from all sides - their professor is against it, the police are using very dirty tricks and it looks like there is a cover-up in the works when key evidence goes missing or gets stolen.

This one seemed to be a solid mystery thriller until the end. The final reveal of the conspiracy was so over the top that it just ruined the book for me.

Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through the Amazon Vine program in exchange for an honest review.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Innocence Game by Michael Harvey. 

Reviewed on May 16, 2013.

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.

The Third Rail (Michael Kelly #3) by Michael Harvey

A Solid Crime Story

Originally Published in 2010.

The Third Rail is the third book in a series about Michael Kelly, a hard-boiled former cop turned private detective. Lots of action and lots of tension build throughout the book as Kelly investigates a series of seemingly random attacks on Chicago's famed Elevated Train system.

For me, this was a welcome change of pace from the seemingly endless books about crime in NYC and LA, cities that I know only from television. I am a Midwesterner and I am familiar with the Windy City so I had no problems envisioning the neighborhoods and the city skyline.

That being said, the plot was not terribly original (the TV show Castle ran a similar premise as an episode while I was reading this book) and the old saw with the Catholic Church being corrupt and more worried about PR than anything else has been played too often as of late.

Photo by Kelly Martin

Chapter 26 features an especially clever point of view on victims of a shooting on Lake Shore Drive - it's rare when someone has a new way of looking at things in an overcrowded genre such as the crime novel.

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5 and it can be found on Amazon.com here: The Third Rail by Michael Harvey. 

Reviewed on April 21, 2010.