Calumet City, by Charlie Newton

Due out in March is the trade edition of Calumet City by Charlie Newton ($14). For those of you who sense that Carol O'Connell's Find Me perhaps showcases the last appearance of her signal character, Mallory, and are stricken by that thought, here is a book for you. 

Patti Black's bleak childhood as an orphan in a foster home and on the wild streets of Chicago will sound familiar to the readers of Carol O'Connell's Mallory series. As a grownup Patti has finagled her way into a job as a cop, one who deals with the neighborhoods in which she once ran as an almost feral child. After years of walking the thin line between her current legitimacy and her dubious past, several incidents occur to bring her past dangerously close to the light. 

Newton's detailed depiction of the part of Chicago tourists don't see and his rapid pacing make this a genuine thriller. However, in my opinion, Newton sometimes commits the same "sin" as O'Connell: He overemphasizes what a misfit his character is, how she lacks basic social skills, how other people quake in her presence with just one (menacing) look from her. He is, thankfully, not at O'Connell's level. This is a small negative criticism of both authors whose otherwise solid storytelling takes the reader past the point of drowning in affectation.

A warning: one of the storylines deals with child abuse.