In "Calumet City" Patti Black explodes onto the literary world and it is as if Dirty Harry has a sister.
Patti is a hard nosed Chicago cop. Her unit is assigned to go on a raid to recover stolen merchandise in a seedy section of the city.
When they open the door, the police are met with machine gun fire. Patti returns fire and kills two boys. In the basement of this building they find a body. This begins the research into a foster home where the children were abused and Patti had been a foster child there but was protected by one of the other children.
After her report on the shooting of the boys, Patti shows her carefree attitude when she changes her clothes and goes to practice with her rugby team.
Later, someone tries to shoot Mayor Quinn. The next person in line to become mayor is Alderman Leslie Gibbons, who is black. Therefore, Patti is asked to get a feel for what the black community is thinking. She gets in trouble with one of the black politicians.
Someone puts a hit on Patti and we learn that the shooter wants her son, who few people know about and is the product of years of rape. She believes that it is Roland GAnz, the man who raped her and destroyed her youth. Patti believes that it was Ganz who murdered the woman in the foster home and left her body hidden there.
She travels out west to find the story on where her son was placed and the intrege continues.
This story packs a punch and has layers upon layers. Reading it will leave the reader gasping for air and numb. ( )

Being a former resident of the metro Chicago area (including living adjacent to Calumet City for ten years), I really enjoyed discussions of the Chicago area settings. This was an enjoyable read, irregardless of the setting, though. ( )