Jaded - Softcover

Gaitano, Nick

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0684807505 ISBN 13: 9780684807508

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1996

Synopsis

Although Jake Phillips had recently been the golden boy of Chicago's elite homicide division, now he finds himself on the verge of suspension. Having recently put everything on the linerisking his job, his marriage, and everything he held most dearto clear the name of his partner, Mondo, who became the prime suspect in a murder case, Jake Phillips is now finding out precisely how much it has cost him. He crossed over an invisible line and no longer seems able to find his way back.
Having warned him repeatedly that his obsession with his cases was consuming him, Jake's wife has now called it quits and has taken their infant daughter with her. Even Mondo, who knows exactly how much he owes Jake Phillips, has been forced to pull rank, with a stern reminder that he's the boss now and if Jake doesn't shape up immediately, he'll have to take his badge.
As his life quickly proceeds to unravel, Jake stumbles upon the truth about a homicide case within his precinct - a truth that could cost him his career or change his life. Faced with a moral dilemma at this lowest point in his life, there's precious little to lose, and Jake must decide whether he will take the easy way out to save his career and turn his life around, or once again put it all on the line to do the right thing.

About this title

Reviews

The third work (after Special Victims and Mr. X) in the pseudonymous series from Chicago crime writer Eugene Izzi features all the raw talent that makes Izzi/Gaitano downright irresistible, plus the nagging idiosyncrasies and overwrought mannerisms that hinder this author's ascent into the top rank of crime-fiction writers. The pacing is, as always, bruising, as Chicago Special Victims police officer Jake Phillips goes deep undercover. Jake is taking payoffs from crooked cops. He's also assigned the deathwatch as thief Jimmy Duette spends his last few seconds of life fingering the cops who beat him senseless in the basement of the precinct station. Jake thus garners the goods, but in the process looks dirty to the rest of his colleagues, his estranged wife and a crusading woman journalist. Jimmy's beating and an incidental court scene are two marvelous virtuoso sections. Yet the story is overloaded with similar characters awash in psychological ticks who spout the same self-help platitudes. A slew of criminals live and scheme and die on the narrative margins, and a final trick near the end of the tale is clumsy. Gaitano remains a ferocious and original talent, but he doesn't seem in charge of this pulsating and morally ambiguous novel.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

What a nasty kettle of fish Gaitano has ladled for Chicago's Special Victims unit this time. There's Ray McCauley, the trash- talking radio jock with a gambling problem; Tommy Malardi, the rookie bagman who beats McCauley half to death and then takes his personal check for his gambling debts; Kevin Wrisberg, McCauley's creditor, who's scouting Tommy as his regular help; and King Youngy, the gang-banger who can't wait to dance at Wrisberg's wake. The whole house of cards comes tumbling down when crime boss Pete Lemelli orders some pressure brought to bear on Jimmy Duette, a safecracker who's holding out on him, and one of the dirty Chicago cops who's torturing Duette goes a little too far. But what's Sgt. Jake Phillips of Special Victims (Mr. X, 1995, etc.) doing in this kettle along with the other lowlifes? Even while his marriage is crumbling and insatiable magazine writer Dabney Delaney-Hinckle is peeking beneath his sheets, he's taking meetings with bent cops, battling his old buddy Lt. Mondo Mondello, head of Special Victims, over procedures and ethics, and hiding the tape recording he made of Duette's last words--a recording guaranteed to make virtually everybody in the cast rich, dirty, or dead. Wisely cutting himself loose from the Fu Manchu villains who marred his first two books, Gaitano goes the distance in this hydra-headed tale of Chicago's finest. Only the predictable climax is a letdown. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

When a second-rate thief named Jimmy Duette is beaten, tortured, and left for dead on the edge of Chicago's Grant Park just before one of the city's biggest festivals, Detective Jake Phillips of the elite Special Victims unit takes the case. But before Phillips can devote himself to the investigation, he has to get his own life in order. His wife has left him, taking their infant daughter; he's drinking heavily; and he's taking payoffs from two dirty cops with ties to organized crime. Add a former partner--now boss--who suspects Phillips' shady doings, and we have one stressed-out cop. There are also subplots involving the murder of a gambling-addicted radio personality and a high-level investigation of police corruption. It's a very busy roller-coaster ride through Chicago's dangerous streets, and Gaitano--aka Eugene Izzi--pulls it off with flair. Everyone portrayed here has an angle and rides close to the edge. Even the good guys' higher moral ground is relative; virtually everyone looks down on scum. The dialogue is great, and the characters, though nasty, come across as believable and carefully drawn. There's also a gut-wrenching conclusion that will leave readers open-mouthed with surprise. Great reading for cop-shop fans. Wes Lukowsky

Edition details

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0684807505
• ISBN 13: 9780684807508
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256