Buy This Book: The Third Rail by Michael Harvey

Here's a trailer that tells you exactly nothing and everything about Michael Harvey's The Third Rail:



Michael Connelly calls Michael Harvey "a major new voice," but it's his old school style that keeps me coming back for more Mike Kelly. A while back, I read Harvey's debut novel, The Chicago Way, after The Big Sleep launched me into a major hardboiled binge. I wanted more. Harvey gave it to me. Made me want to slump into a seat on the el train, light up a cigarette, and change my name to Stella.

From the flap:
A woman is shot as she waits for her train to work. An hour later, a second woman is gunned down as she rides an elevated train through the Loop. Two hours after that, a church becomes the target of a chemical weapons attack. The city of Chicago is under siege, and Michael Kelly, cynical cop turned private investigator, just happens to be on the scene when all hell breaks loose.

Kelly is initially drawn into the case by the killers themselves, then tasked by Chicago’s mayor and the FBI to hunt down the bad guys and, all things being equal, put a bullet in them. Kelly, of course, has other ideas. As he gets closer to the truth, his instincts lead him to a retired cop, a shady train company, and an unnerving link to his own past. Meanwhile, Kelly’s girlfriend, Rachel Swenson, becomes a pawn in a much larger game, while a weapon that could kill millions ticks away quietly in the very belly of the city.
The Third Rail is Mike Kelly's third outing, and it's darker than the first two, but it doesn't feel like Harvey is pushing the envelope or trying to give us something we haven't seen on Law & Order. It's more about intensity, atmospherics, and the depth of this evolving character.

Tune in tomorrow. Michael Harvey stops by to answer 3Qs. And the answers will surprise you.

Click here to buy from IndieBound.

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