Prairie Alligators : A Nick Spivak Mystery

Rating:
Summary: urban skullduggery
Review: "Prairie Alligators" is a terrific read--a fast-paced, smart, tangled tale of murderous intrigue in Chicago. Nick Spivak, an old Chicagoan, comes back home to find out why a friend of his was murdered and opens up a can of worms. Some of the worms? Worn-out grassroots do-gooders, gang-bangers, drugsellers, hostile policemen, smugglers of immigrant laborers, politicians on the take, "business men" on the make. Henry Polz knows Chicago, its topography and its people, and knows how to weave an intricate--and rewarding--plot. And Nick Spivak, though he seems on occasion to go out of his way to get the hell beaten out of him, is an engaging hero. An updated version of the classic urban thriller, The Glass Key.

Rating:
Summary: An authentic Chicago story
Review: Henry Poltz has written one of the most authentic Chicago stories since Nelson Algren's Chicago City on the Make. The book captures the gritty Chicago politics and street life better than Sara Peretsky. This is a walking tour of Chicago that will delight mystery readers and other readers just interested in an inside view of the windy city. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Prairie Alligators
Review: I liked Spivak and a lot of the characters, including minor ones like the hotel clerk. The sense of the hotel, the barge full of scrap metal, the brewery, Chicago in general, is superb. No
way to write this without the author himself having gone through actual Chicago manholes and tunnels. The book is terrifically plotted, moves right along.

I look forward to the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: A Real Page Turner
Review: This is a terrific mystery -- very fast paced plot, with incredibly vivid scenes and characters, and touches of humor that made me laugh out loud. Henry Polz reminds me of W.E.B. Griffin, writing -- this time -- about the gritty world of Chicago city corruption, alternative politics, and murder. I hope that, in Griffin style, Polz has many coming -- I can't wait to read the next one.