Reviewing: "At The City's Edge" by Marcus Sakey

At The City's Edge
By Marcus Sakey
http://www.marcussakey.com/
St. Martin's Press
http://www.minotaurbooks.com/
2008
ISBN# 0-312-36032-0
Hardback
312 Pages




Jason Palmer found his reason for being by being a soldier. Then, one mistake later, he was ultimately out and on his way back home to Chicago. There he finds plenty of booze and one night stands with women in a determined effort, if not to kill himself, to at least keep the demon within under some semblance of control. That is until his brother Michael is murdered and the bar he owned destroyed to cover the crime as well as to serve as a warning to others.

But, the killers made two mistakes. They didn't kill Jason Palmer when they had the chance before he was aware that anything was wrong. They also failed to kill Billy, Michael's son, who at ten years old is amazingly smart and together and can easily identify the killers. The vulnerability of a child is almost always a reason for somebody to turn his or her life around and it certainly is here as Billy gives Jason a reason to put down the bottle and begin to fight back against the enemy within as well as the real enemies arrayed against his family and friends. It's easy to go to war in Iraq or at home in Chicago when you don't care about living or dying. It is another thing entirely when a child is counting on you to survive.

What sounds like a typical revenge/retaliation story is much, much more in the talented hands and mind of Marcus Sakey who also wrote the powerful novel, "The Blade Itself." Taking classic traditional elements of former gang members trying to do good in the old neighborhood, crooked cops, politicians on the take, and all the rest of it, Marcus Sakey creates a novel that while full of graphic violence is also full of subtle nuance about the human condition. Sakey once again brings his hometown alive whether it is the posh mansions or the ghetto areas and shows readers that the people who live in each have much more in common than most would expect or acknowledge.

The result is a novel that no review will begin to fully explain just how good this book truly is. So, go read it already and if you haven't read "The Blade Itself" read that as well. You won't be disappointed with either stand alone read.

Kevin R. Tipple © 2008