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18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Fifth Floor is hardboiled heaven, August 27, 2008
In Harvey's second Chicago noir, ex-cop and private investigator Michael Kelly finds himself knee deep in a scandal that goes all the way back to the infamous Chicago Fire of 1871, and its possible origin as an attempt by two powerful families to eliminate the city's Irish immigrants by burning down the slums. While on a surveillance case tailing an ex-girlfriend's abusive husband (who happens to be one of the mayor's personal hatchet men) in the hopes of discovering something she can use against him, Kelly stumbles upon a murder scene that reaches into Chicago's sordid past, with its money- and power-grabbing elite, and their connection to the city's long-running political machine. Seems that machine is still humming: after digging a little too deeply into the murder he uncovered, Kelly is summoned to City Hall's notorious fifth floor, where he is warned off the case by the mayor himself. Naturally Kelly is undeterred, and things get more complicated and dangerous, with more bodies turning up and an attempted frame-up of Kelly for the crimes. P.I. Michael Kelly is a wonderfully flawed but honorable character created by a talented noir stylist, and his tenacious efforts to expose the wrongdoings of Chicago's most ruthlessly powerful and respected citizens keep you rooting for the this appealing underdog. Extra points for the colorful hardboiled dialogue.
Also recommended: A Stranger Lies There- a superior desert-noir set in Palm Springs, it won the Malice Domestic Award for best first mystery.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A SUPERB NOIR THRILLER, July 24, 2009
This review is from: The Fifth Floor (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard) (Paperback)
Knew I'd like The Fifth Floor after reading the opening quote which is from columnist Mike Royko in reference to Chicago: "This town was built by great men who demanded that drunkards and harlots be arrested, while charging them rent until the cops arrived."
Yes, of all American cities there is a special mystique about Chicago with its gangland murders, wealthy suburbs, and an impression that anything goes in that Windy City by the Lake. Wonder how many movies have been shot there with closeups of the city's bars, streets, and hangouts. Tell you what - cinematography has a way to go to top Michael Harvey who draws such concise, punchy word pictures of his town that we can almost slip on a "greasy set of steps, ", catch a whiff of a woman's fragrance or recoil at the sight of a dead man whose mouth is overstuffed with sand. This author ensnares readers with his words.
The Fifth Floor follows Michael Harvey's successful The Chicago Way, continuing the adventures of private detective Michael Kelly who has a penchant for trouble; he's a guy who barely makes it through each week intact.
Kelly's former girlfriend, Janet, has come to him for help. She's a lovely woman but that's a bit hard to tell with the bruises covering her face. It seems her husband, Johnny Woods, has used her to work of some steam and she has no idea why. When she refuses to leave her abusive spouse Kelly agrees to try to talk to him. But first he does a little investigating via a good friend, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, who tutors him re the way Chicago works on the mayoral level. Mayor's offices are located on the fifth floor of City Hall.
Seems that Woods is a "fixer" for the Mayor - does whatever needs to be done to keep things running smoothly and looking clean. As Kelly digs deeper he finds that much of the dirty work going on today has links to the past, to the Chicago fire in 1871. It soon becomes apparent that the Mayor's family may have been involved in less than respectable ways.
Well, we know what happens to people who find out too much and that's the predicament Kelly finds himself in. Who knows, some may decide that if he were convicted of murder that might just put Kelly out of the way.
Michael Harvey is a superb writer reminding one of the best of the earlier noir stories. He carries us along to a well plotted denouement and since he laces the ride with both humor and grit we thoroughly enjoy every minute of it.
- Gail Cooke
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Michael Harvey's Second PI Michael Kelly Chicago Murder Thriller, August 22, 2010
Michael Harvey's second fictional thriller, The Fifth Floor staring former cop turned Private Investigator Michael Kelly is set in Chicago in 2008.
Kelly's former girl friend Janet is married to her second husband, Johnny "the fixer" Woods--a wife beater--working at the City Hall/Cook County Building for "The Fifth Floor" office of Chicago Mayor John J. Wilson.
Janet hires Mike to investigate and document her husband abuse. It had reached a stage where Johnny's 14 year old step-daughter, wants Kelly to kill him.
Michael Kelly understands abuse having grown up with a cowardly drunken father who beat him and his older brother, Phillip daily until they grew up. Like Taylor, he would have like to see his father dead.
Observing Woods enter and quickly leave the Bellinger Cottage at 2121 North Hudson with his face white from fear, Kelly enters the building and discovers the dead body of amateur historian, 75-year-old Allen Bryant, great-great-grandson of the home's original occupant, police officer, Richard Bellinger, who saved the building from the Chicago Fire in October of 1871.
From that point on the story takes the reader on a roller coaster ride full of twists and turns through the origins of "a gang of thieves, also known as Chicago's founding fathers," dirty tricks, patronage politics, graft and murder.
The author spends a great deal of time presenting a variety of alternative theories to O'Leary's cow as the cause of the Great Chicago fire. One theory presented on April 1, 1978 by Sun-Times reporter, Rawling "Smitty" Smith as an April Fools article landed him in jail after police stopped him claiming he was drunk while planting drugs and a gun in his car and forcing him to make a deal with then prosecutor, now District Attorney Gerald O'Leary in exchange for not charging him with armed robbery and rape based on the photo lineup testimony of a hooker. The deal was that "Smitty" resign and leave town. The results were that he was black balled from all major newspaper reporting and his wife of over 10-years divorced him and took his two children while he ended up reporting in for a small newspaper in Joliet, Illinois where he is thankful to be alive and sips warm beers from his desk drawer to keep him going.
Michael Harvey is an excellent story teller with superb writing skills that keeps the reader rapidly flipping pages from beginning to the end of his Chicago Thrillers. I enjoyed this novel almost as much as I did his debut novel, The Chicago Way and his latest one, The Third Rail.
I think that most readers that enjoy a descriptive fast paced thriller will be happy to read this book.
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