Anyway, this book. It's the fourth book in Clark's Detective Harriet Foster series, following the trials and tribulations of a Black, female, Chicago homicide detective. Clark has written these books pretty heavy on the series stuff, so even though we're only four books in, they haven't been standing alone well. In fact, when a plot arch that carried over the first three books wrapped up in Book 3 I kind of thought this one would serve as a fresh start. Well, yes and no. Harriet has at least found a good therapist now, so maybe there's hope she's turning a corner on some of her guilt.
The book opens with a bang. It was highly suggested that Harriet take some time off due to events in the previous book, and that's what she's begrudgingly doing. She's taking a lonely, solitary walk in the Chicago rain early one morning when she sees something odd - two people lying out in the open (in the rain!) in a local skate park. Her cop instincts kick in and what she discovers are two young people with symptoms of a drug overdose. It's too late for the young man, he's dead. However the young woman is still alive, but just barely. Harriet's quick thinking saves her life, and it turns out she's the niece of one of the cops that Harriet works with.
Matt is loaded for bear but it's an overdose, not a homicide and the team has handed off the details to the cops who responded to Harriet's 911 call. Then, another call comes in. A man burning both ends to make ends meet, to support his young family, becomes worried when his wife doesn't answer the phone. He leaves work only to find his young wife, who finally seemed to be pulling out of her postpartum depression, lying in bed, dead. From an overdose of the same drug that killed the two college kids Harriet found on the morning of her lonely walk in the rain.
As more overdoses pile up time is running out for them to get a handle on what is killing these people. Interspersed between the pages of Harriet and the team running down answers is the tale of a turf war within a gang family. A dead patriarch, a ruthless daughter now running the show, and her ambitious, impulsive and reckless niece who has already lit a fuse.
A dangerous street drug and a criminal family tearing itself at the seams makes for a compelling story and as always Clark does a great job with the Chicago setting. I also was tickled beyond measure that Clark's other creation, former cop turned PI Cassandra "Cass" Raines shows up in this story. Although, she's more of a cocky bitch here than I ever remembered her being in her own books. Still, I was glad to see her again, although I can't help but think this likely means her series is now officially dead unless Clark decides to meld the two together or can get Amazon to pick it up now that it seems like Kensington has moved on.
While I enjoyed the plot, I'll admit the characters frustrated me more in this entry - especially with the way they handled Matt's niece who survives her OD. Cops closing ranks and treating "one of their own" with kid gloves? Highly believable. Did it still frustrate the hell out of me that Harriet wasn't rattling cages harder, louder, faster and sooner? Yes. The urgency to the investigation seemed to ebb and flow in this book and I get that police work is 99% tedium, but it sure seemed to take the characters a long time to circle around to talking to some of their "persons of interest" in a timely manner. Which, come to think of it, is how we get Cass to show up in this book. That's a woman who waits for no one.
The writing did get a bit overwrought at times, but given her life experiences Harriet is kind of an overwrought person not dealing with her baggage - so really, what am I saying? I don't even know anymore. Again, good plot, I'm still enjoying the characters, but this one isn't quite as good as the first couple of books for me.
Final Grade = B-
2 comments:
(2025 can jump off a pier over an active volcano, seriously. And GAH, I hear you on getting that reading mojo back--soonest, please, deity of your choice--because I can't barely function right now myself, so yeah.)
Aaaaaanyway: this one may not hold up to the same level as the first three, but it's still in the B range for you, and that, Miz Wendy, is pretty damned good.
AL: It will take a miracle for me to get to 60 books read this year and I just want to curl up in ball and sob. I need to do something about my mojo in 2026 and it's probably going to involve staying off social media because that has been KILLING me.
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