Chicago PD Lieutenant Jacqueline (Jack) Daniels is back in Dirty Martini, the fourth novel by J.A. Konrath. Jack's newest case puts her in the path of a killer who is poisoning Chicago. The killer is threatening a citywide epidemic if the city doesn't agree to a two million dollar payoff.
Readers get to read from both Jack's perspective as well as that of the killer, although the killer's motives are not clear until the end. Each chapter brings the reader a step closer to what and why and yet each chapter makes the reasons more unclear (until the very end). This makes for a fast-paced, edge of your seat read that will keep you reading long into the night.
This novel reads like an episode of CSI or Law and Order. Lots of action, good dialogue, a main character that you care about and a few that are expendable. Jack was clever and likeable and yet a bit detached, which a cop needs to be. Readers will enjoy the romantic side to Jack which comes through in this story as well.
Despite the name, this story wasn't dirty (in fact it was quite clean) and I respected Jack's decision to stay true to her man even in the face of temptation. (Go Jack!) I really enjoyed the story, especially the strong writing. Dirty Martini easily stood apart from the others in the series, and yet I believe it would have been even better regarded in the context of the first three books.
I love (and hate) books like this that truly keep me guessing until the end. Each time I came up with a theory as to why the killer was on his rampage something would happen that contradicted what I was thinking. There were a few moments that were almost predictable and yet I think Konrath did a great job of keeping it realistic and fresh. The part where the killer messes with kids did bother me, but sadly that's exactly how I believe a killer would think, so for this story it worked - it got my interest, kept me reading, made me hate the criminal responsible.
All in all, I'd say that Dirty Martini is worth reading and it would be a good use of time to read the other books in the series. I plan to read the next book in the series -- if there is one -- and find other works by Konrath to check those out as well.
Article comments