Synopsis (from
the publisher):
Meet Patti Black, the most decorated cop in Chicago. On her ghetto
beat, Patti Black redefines the word badass. But her steel-plated
exterior -- solitary, stoic, loveless -- belies the wrenching legacy of
her orphan childhood. Haunted by the horrifying abuse she suffered at
the hands of her foster parents, Patti Black sublimates past torments
into a meticulously maintained tough-gal persona.
When a series of unrelated cases -- a drug bust gone bad, a mayoral
assassination attempt, the murder of a state attorney, the exhumation
of a long-concealed body from a tenement basement wall -- all point in
Patti Black's direction, she finds herself facing the dark truth: You
can't hide from your history, no matter how far into the fog you run.
For Patti Black, that history didn't die in the tenement wall; it's
alive -- and riding her down.
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Calumet City
Non-series
Charlie
Newton
Touchstone (Trade Paperback)
ISBN-10: 1-4165-3322-2 (1416533222)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-3322-1 (9781416533221)
Publication Date: March 2008
List Price: $14.00
— ◊ —
Review: Charlie
Newton's debut novel, Calumet City,
is a dark, gritty, and suspenseful tale of the cops, and one in
particular, that patrol the gangland streets of Chicago.
Patti Black escaped from an appalling, terrifying life in a foster home
in Calumet City, a suburb south of Chicago. She faced her demons,
buried them, and escaped. She was still a teen-ager. With a lot of help
she brought herself up out of the gutter and became a Chicago cop.
Though she remained an embittered adult, she showed integrity, honesty
and fairness when it was due. But she had a deep, dreadful secret
concerning her life in Calumet City,
one she thought she would never reveal to any one. On her application
to the police academy she purposely omitted or simply lied about
certain areas of her life. This seemed to go unnoticed. Now it appears
as if her past is going to haunt her. When some factions of the city
want a casino in Chicago, and others are determined to fight it, an
attempt is made on the mayor’s life. Then a huge drug bust fails,
killing one and injuring two. The state attorney is found murdered. And
a woman’s body, identified as the foster mother of Patti, is
found buried in a wall of an old building. Coincidences? Patti
doesn’t think so.
Calumet City is a dark
and frequently violent tale of a part of Chicago that the board of
tourism doesn't promote. The story, which at times seems more than a
little derivative, moves along at a rapid pace due partly to Newton's
crisp style of writing but due primarily to the fully developed
character of Patti Black. As an interesting side note, Patti Black is
based on a real Chicago police officer with whom the author spent time
while developing the story for this book. His research pays off with
this terrific thriller.
Special thanks to guest reviewer Betty of The Betz Review for contributing her review of Calumet City and to Simon & Schuster for providing an ARC of the book for this review.
Review Copyright © 2008 — Hidden Staircase Mystery Books — All Rights Reserved
Have you read Calumet City? How would you rate it?
Novels by this author …
Calumet City
Touchstone (Trade Paperback), March 2008
ISBN-10: 1-4165-3322-2 (1416533222)
ISBN-13: 978-1-4165-3322-1 (9781416533221)
Omnimystery keywords for Calumet City ...
Location(s) referenced: Chicago, Illinois.
