The Third Rail

Starred review from February 1, 2010
A series of terrifying crimes threatens to paralyze Chicago in Harvey's stellar third novel featuring Chicago PI Michael Kelly (after The Chicago Way
and The Fifth Floor
). First, a gunman executes two people, apparently at random at different locations, while they ride the T, the city's elevated railway. Next, the sniper shoots at commuters on Lake Shore Drive, killing three people while missing Kelly's girlfriend, Judge Rachel Swenson. Kelly suspects the shooter has an accomplice, a theory dismissed by official law enforcement. The hard-boiled investigator, who at age nine survived a horrific subway accident at the site of one of the T murders 30 years earlier, wonders if there could be a link between that past tragedy and the current spree. The author deftly alternates between his hero's first-person perspective and third-person accounts of the mindsets of the men Kelly seeks. Harvey stakes a persuasive claim as the pre-eminent contemporary voice of Chicago noir. 100,000 first printing; 8-city author tour.

January 1, 2010
Laconic private eye Michael Kelly goes up against a killer who evidently wants to avenge a 30-year-old outrage by executing everyone in the Windy City.

The first victims are shot while they're riding the L, so it's widely assumed that the shooter's motive has something to do with the trains. Chicago mayor John J. Wilson calls in FBI field investigator Katherine Lawson and quickly assembles a task force. Because he's no fool, he also sits down with ex-cop Michael Kelly (The Fifth Floor, 2008, etc.), hires him off the books and tells him it would be just fine with His Honor if Kelly dropped the perp into a hole so deep that he was never heard of again. Meanwhile, the targets spread out. Police discover the bodies of a building manager and a prostitute. When a massacre of commuters on Lake Shore Drive leaves the shooter dead, Kelly's hailed as a hero even though he didn't pull the trigger and isn't convinced the violence is over. He's right, of course. The dead man, however murderous, was merely a hireling, and his master still remains ferociously active, planting lethal light bulbs in the L, kidnapping Kelly's girlfriend, Judge Rachel Swenson, and menacing parties closer and closer to the heart of the investigation. The danger won't pass till Kelly's dug up the last buried secret, and maybe not even then.

The mystery is lumpy and unsurprising, but Harvey unfolds his tale with no preliminaries, no digressions and barely an extra word—just a book-length jolt of pure adrenaline.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 15, 2009
Imagine the rhythm of commuter traffic shattered by a sniper. A killer opens fire on Chicago commuters on page one, and Michael Kelly, PI and ex-cop, is in pursuit by page three. No coincidence here; the shooter stages his attacks and ensures that Kelly will be involved by taunting him on his cell phone. Is there a second suspect? Both the Chicago PD and the FBI let Kelly work front and center because it's the only way they can decipher the seemingly random pattern. Trotting out all the usual suspectscrooked politicians, bad priests, and terroristscould have fallen flat, but Harvey drives his third Michael Kelly entry (after "The Fifth Floor") like an efficient train. This drama hinges on a decades-old cold case with retribution as the primary goal. VERDICT The mixture of high-speed drama and historical elements showcases the author's journalist roots. It comes off like a juicy true-crime story with abundant twists, ensuring that the reader is left feeling unbalanced most of the time. Harvey shares his passion for Chicago, much like Gabriel Cohen does with his Brooklyn crime novels. [100,000-copy first printing; eight-city tour.]Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 1, 2009
Harveys third Michael Kelly novel finds the tough Chicago PI eyeball deep in a burgeoning reign of terror focused on the transit system, the venerable CTA. Kelly witnesses the first murder on an L platform and sets off in hot but futile pursuit. After the second murder, he receives a taunting phone call from the killer, who alludes to Kellys knowledge of ancient Greece. As Kelly dredges his memory for a suspectand recalls painful moments from his youththe FBI barges in, citing terrorism; spooky suits from Homeland Security lurk on the periphery; and the body count rises. Hizzoner, the Daleyesque John J. Wilson, summons Kelly to make him an offer he cant refuse. The expert use of Chicago politics that distinguished Harveys previous novel, The Fifth Floor (2008), is much in evidence here as well. Hizzoner is still practicing realpolitik, Chicago style, and the main plot is based on a real-life CTA accident in the 1970s. But the edginess and noir sensibility that were central to the earlier books appeal are lessened a bit this time by Kellys becoming an insider; the mayor seems to admire and trust him. That said, the action is nonstop, Harvey once again captures the unique zeitgeist of the city, and Kelly, tough smart, and a bit rough around the edges, is a true native son.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)