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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Guilt All Around, December 26, 2007
The dual plot line in this novel, combining the trials and zeal of an undercover cop and the effects of the job on his wife and daughter, make for a poignant and gripping tale. The story centers on the human aspects in a highly charged and moving story in which Craig McHugh, a Chicago detective, goes beyond the last mile in attempt to gather information on an Asian gang distributing bad narcotics.
His wife, Leslie, is at the center of the plot, as she struggles to come to grips with the effects of the conflicts inherent in his duties, which he has always tried to keep separate from his family life. But when she discovers he is withdrawing money from their savings account and sleeping in a seedy hotel, and suspects he is having an affair, she reaches the breaking point. Unknown to her, the money, which is being provided to him by the CPD to continue his cover as a poker player in the rear of a Chinese take-out, has run dry, but he won't give up the task. The hotel of course is part of his cover.
Person of Interest is a superb follow-up to the author's Edgar-winning first novel. It portends even better things to come, and is highly recommended.
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Frighteningly good, January 7, 2008
Theresa Schwegel is frighteningly good. There is no other way to say it. She came out of the gate with OFFICER DOWN, a debut novel that continues to draw accolades and new readers some two years later. PROBABLE CAUSE, published in late December 2006, showed no hint of a sophomore slump or reticence, demonstrating a strong, confident tone that resonates long after the final sentence is read. Now, not even a year later, Schwegel favors us with PERSON OF INTEREST, which arguably is her best work to date.
The book is equal parts crime novel and domestic tragedy, a puzzle of parts that interlock so exquisitely that, after one has finished reading this work, it is hard to resist immediately delving into it again, in order to precisely examine how Schwegel accomplished what she did. PERSON OF INTEREST is not so much about one person as it is about a family. All of the McHughs --- Craig, husband and father; Leslie, wife and mother; and Ivy, teenaged daughter --- are unhappy with their lives and each other. Craig is an undercover cop who is so deep into his role --- infiltrating an Asian gang as a hapless gambler --- that he is unable to trust anyone with anything, even his own wife. Leslie has trust issues of her own, exacerbated by money inexplicably missing from the joint bank account she keeps with Craig and a cryptic message on a matchbook in Craig's pocket. Ivy, meanwhile, is keeping late hours with an unknown boyfriend who her parents would never approve of, even as Leslie, lonely and seeking comfort, finds herself being oddly and improbably attracted to a young jazz musician who is in Ivy's orbit.
The secret lives of the McHughs begin to draw them catastrophically and ironically together on a collision course that is almost sure to destroy them individually and collectively. The only thing that will save them, physically and spiritually, is the truth --- yet it is the truth that also risks destroying them. I cannot overstate how well Schwegel constructs PERSON OF INTEREST, the way the characters put themselves in such disadvantaged positions --- and not in spite of their best efforts, but because of them. It takes a terrible and violent act for Craig to break the freefall that he and his family find themselves in, but it's this very act that will bring the greatest risk to him and the person in whom he has put his trust.
Schwegel's cinematic, kaleidoscopic point of view brings a breathtaking vantage point to her work in general and to PERSON OF INTEREST in particular. At points in the narrative, one can only hang on and take a deep breath, sympathizing with the characters in knowing that, even though the best that can happen may not be very good at all, it is still worth struggling for.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
disappointing, nothing original, October 16, 2009
I don't usually leave negative reviews, so my apologies to the author, but this
book was terrible...the characters were all blatant stereotypes...especially the
main woman character, who is thoroughly unlikable, and the author's descriptions
of her and her emotions can only be described as "soap-opera-ish" and completely unoriginal...she eats a bunch of ice cream and drinks wine when she's distressed,
she hates her mother-in-law, and she fantasizes about her teenage daughter's boyfriend....(she even ducks and hides under a window when he stops by like a bad sitcom!) YUCK!!!! I can't imagine who could root for this woman....which you need to do to make this story work.
The cop husband was nothing but a combination of all of the cop cliches from every cop show on tv, including how his family suffers from his long hours and the stress of his job...not to say that this is not true, but it has been done so much better and more subtly by so many other authors.. Also..speaking of lack of subtlety, the story takes place in Chicago, and the author does not let you forget this...it's one thing to put a few references in there to let you know where the story takes place, but you are constantly reminded of it...I even live in that area, and I found it annoying and obvious.
I love mysteries and good police thrillers, & I'm not that choosy if they are decent stories, but this was just painful to read...
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