CRIMINAL ELEMENT [Paperback]

Hugh Holton (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Forge Books (2002)
• ASIN: B000OTEN0K
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exciting Chicago police procedural, January 26, 2002

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Criminal Element (A Larry Cole Mystery) (Hardcover)

Chicago Alderman Skip Murphy kills his bedroom partner bargirl Sophie Novak during a rough sex incident. Knowing his career is dead if his deadly dalliance surfaces, Skip needs to cover up the crime. He turns to Violent Crimes Unit Detective Joe Donegan, an individual who uses the badge to successfully perform illegal activities, to help clean up his problem. Not only does the corpse burn to ashes, but also witnesses who have seen Skip with Sophie are killed.

Joe sees his new work as an upward mobility career move. Police Commander Larry Cole and his partner Sergeant Blackie Silvestri know the truth about Joe's revenue making actions, but struggle to find evidence to prove their case. Now they have a murder mystery that smells of Donegan, who slyly manages to keep one step ahead of his peers.

Donegan steals this police procedural, as the veteran team (in books too) seems to fail to stop this master felon. The story line of CRIMINAL ELEMENT moves quickly forward though Larry and Blackie appear hopeless and even somewhat pathetic in their chase of Joe. Hugh Holton, who recently past away, provides fans of his Chicago police procedural series with a pleasurable entry though the villain owns the novel.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterful detective novel, October 10, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Criminal Element (A Larry Cole Mystery) (Hardcover)

Well-balanced, fast-moving, excellently written story of the author's view of the Chicago underbelly. I enjoyed the book as the best of the year, possibly of the decade, on Chicago cops.

5.0 out of 5 stars Hugh Holton's Criminal Element, December 29, 2011

By 

gmd - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Criminal Element (A Larry Cole Mystery) (Hardcover)

This is one of the best written books ever! Wow! It's a real page-turner. I couldn't stop reading until I finished it. Mr. Holton created awesome characters and numerous twists and turns. This book should be made into a movie!