When a grieving mother comes to Toronto private investigator Jonah Geller wanting to find answers about her daughter’s alleged suicide, this story takes off and never stops. Jonah and his sidekicks discover the dirty business going on in the high stakes world of waterfront construction.
The story starts in Toronto but halfway moves to Chicago where Jonah finds he has bitten off more than he can chew, and needs his friend, former hit man Dante Ryan, and his partner, beautiful Jenn Raudsepp, to help him.
This is the first Howard Shrier novel I have read but it won’t be the last. It is the second in the series featuring the private investigator Jonah Geller, the first being a novel called Buffalo Jump. There are some incidents alluded to in High Chicago that I am guessing are in the first book.
The things I admire the most about High Chicago is the development of good strong characters… Jonah is a guy I wouldn’t mind watching my back (he is as good as Parker’s Spenser) and I really liked the secondary characters Dante and Jenn. In fact, to me they have been developed as well or better than Parker’s. There is no doubt that Shrier will be compared to Robert Parker. There are a lot of similarities and someone looking for that style won’t be disappointed.
Setting was nicely drawn too. I’ve never been to Chicago but almost felt like I had after I read this book. However, if you’re afraid of heights, it may make you a little nervous at times…it’s not called High Chicago for nothing! There are not a lot of surprises in this book…the bad guys are obvious from the start, with the possible exception of one. However, that doesn’t seem to matter. It ‘s all about how one deals with a villain who seems untouchable. Plus, there is plenty of physical action and some great dialogue.
On the whole, I really enjoyed this book and will probably read Buffalo Jump and also any future offerings by Shrier if they are this good. — Brenda Ough, Librarything
