From Publishers Weekly
When Isaac Richmond, a retired army colonel, asks Chicago PI Ray Dudgeon to look into his daughter's murder, Dudgeon, who's still recovering from the injuries he sustained in
Big City, Bad Blood, reluctantly agrees to take the $50,000 case in this engrossing follow-up. Joan Richmond's death looks straightforward: a deranged co-worker, Steven Zhang, shot her in her home and then committed suicide. Never one to accept the simplest answer, Dudgeon starts digging and discovers that Joan's former employer was Hawk River, a military contract company under congressional investigation. Steve's widow soon reveals her husband's ties to China, and Dudgeon realizes that Joan's murder could lead back to both the Department of Homeland Security and some ruthless military contractors. Himself a former PI, Chercover brings a crackling authenticity to Dudgeon, paying homage to the noir masters while creating a doggedly stubborn new hero all his own.
(Oct.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Critics agree that Sean Chercover's former career as a private investigator serves him well as a crime fiction writer. Compared by the
Chicago Tribune's critic
to the greats, Chercover writes well-rounded characters with believable flaws, and his timely, convincing exploration of the military-industrial complex extends this thriller beyond its traditional genre. Only the reviewer from the
Washington Post wasn't too sure about this direction, opining that some readers might see this plot as "left-wing paranoia, while others will think it an all-too-accurate portrayal of how elements of our government operate." But well paced and highly entertaining,
Trigger City offers "a serious political message embedded in ... stylish prose" (
Washington Post). And there's more to come.
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