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Hardcover Big City, Bad Blood Book

ISBN: 0061128678

ISBN13: 9780061128677

Big City, Bad Blood

(Book #1 in the Ray Dudgeon Series)

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Format: Hardcover

Condition: Good*

*Best Available: (ex-library)

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Book Overview

A disillusioned newspaper reporter turned private detective, Ray Dudgeon isn't trying to save the world. He just wants to do an honest job, and do it well. But when doing an honest job threatens society's most powerful and corrupt, Ray's odds for survival make for a sucker's bet. . . . While working on a movie in Chicago, Hollywood locations manager Bob Loniski saw something he shouldn't have. Now he's a prosecution witness against a suspected member of the Chicago Outfit. Petrified, he comes to Ray for protection. Ray's mob contacts insist that they have no interest in Loniski, so he takes the bodyguard gig. Then people start dying and everything goes to hell. Ray's investigation leads to a stash of blackmail files involving the sex trade, Washington political corruption, and a deadly power struggle among Chicago's organized crime bosses--setting the FBI, the Chicago police, and the mob on his tail. He now holds evidence against top-ranking cops and politicians . . . but with the line between good and bad blurring, he doesn't know who he can trust. If he does the right thing, Ray is sure to die. But if he doesn't, how can he live with himself? From the back alleys of Chicago to the man-sions of Beverly Hills to the corridors of power in Washington, D.C., Sean Chercover's Big City, Bad Blood propels readers relentlessly forward on a bullet-fast, adrenaline-pumping ride they will not soon forget.

Customer Reviews

5 ratings

Big City Bad Blood is a MUST READ!

Sean Chercover is a new voice in crime fiction. From the atmospheric rendering of Chicago to the well drawn characters, Big City Bad Blood is a great debut novel. If you like your mysteries hard-bolied, your writing crisp, the action fast, and surprises galore, this book is for you. Mr. Chercover--I can't wait to read the next one!

Excellent Debut

The private eye novel is alive and well and living in Chicago. Chercover's hardboiled debut alternately pays homage to and breaks new ground in the gumshoe genre. PI Ray Dudgeon is cut from the same cloth as Spenser, but does so with a realism and verve that breathes new life into the old standbys. Yes, there is drinking, and brawling, and sex, and mob hits, and political corruption, and murder, and the obligatory warehouse torture scene. And yes, Dudgeon is a knight errant with a penchant for violence that gleefully recalls classic Mike Hammer. But there is also a sly sense of humor at play, and Dudgeon's humanity in the face of fear makes him a 3D hero rather than a stereotype. Mix James Crumley with Robert Crais and you've got BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD. I'm looking forward to Chercover's follow-up.

Deserves more buzz

I've tried to write this review three times and I give up. I can't say any better what others have already said except that this is the best new PI novel I've read in ten years. The plot is smart and well-built, the action well paced and vivid, and the rendering of character and setting is spot-on. I really liked protagonist Ray Dudgeon, even when he was messed up, hardheaded, and doing the right thing for the wrong reason (and vice versa) and I couldn't put the book down. If you like hardboiled detective fiction, you must keep your eye on Chercover.

One Hell Of A Debut

This is one of the best debut novels I've read in over a decade. I rember when I read the first books by Robert Crais, Denis Lehane and Michael Connelly, and I got the same kind of buzz that I got while reading this. Chercover writes about Chicago as only a native can, and he writes about a Chicago you don't see advertised on TV. It's a gritty dark place, and if you are smart you'll have Ray Dudgeon watching your back. Dudgeon is a fromer reporter turned PI working a body gaurd job for a Hollywood location scout. Things quickly get out of hand and he has to make some tough choices. Fast paced and smooth as silk, this does not read like a first novel, it reads like the work of a seasoned pro. I predict big things for Mr. Chercover

Couldn't put it down

This is an outstanding book! I don't usually read detective novels - but this was great, The main character is complex and seems real, and his relationship with his girlfriend covers new ground. It's a dark book, but also funny, with some subtle humour. The story is tense and moves at a fast pace. Once started I had to keep reading. I've been thinking a lot about this book in the few days since I read it.
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