The Fifth Floor (Michael Kelly Series #2)

Exciting

Very good plot.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Now we have a series

The series being Michael Kelly PI, not the CUBS. I was anxious to read this book after reading The Chicago Way. I think this book has lived up to expectations. Instead of just a noir story, Harvey adds a little Chicago history and a lot of politics. I do feel that you need to read The Chicago Way first to understand some of the relationships. The references to Nicole would not be understandable if you had not read the first book. That is why I call it a series. Hope there are more books in the years to come.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Interesting storyline.

I enjoyed The Chicago Way, and I really enjoyed The Fifth Floor. I thought the storyline was excellent...but then again, I was born in Chicago and find stories about the city fascinating. What was neat was that this story could very well be true. If you pass this one up, it will be your loss!

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Just okay...his first book "The Chicago Way" was excellent.

After being excited by stumbling upon and reading Harvey's first book (The Chicago Way)--it was excellent, I felt that if I had read the Fifth Floor first, I would never have read another of his books. I thought the plot was creative, but it seemed to me that the book didn't begin driving itself until the final third of the book. It's not about the action, but I didn't feel myself saying, "just one more chapter before bed". The end of the book is very good, which gives it the 3 stars--otherwise it's really just average all the way around. Still a fan, just want to see what his 3rd book brings.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Fun Read.

I really liked this book. It was a quick read that moved fast and kept my interest. The author weaves Chicago history in his books and tells a great story along the way.

HIGHLY RECOMMEND

If you love police mysteries a must read. Harvey as written 3 books in the Michael Kelly series and all are Great.

What an improvement!!!

After my let down with the ending of The Chicago Way, I was not expecting too much from this book. But Mr. Harvey has out done himself. This book flowed so much better with a wonderful true detective ending. His second book was much better than the first and I can not wait to start the third.

Politically Savvy Page-Turner

This follow-up to The Chicago Way is another good Chicago noir. The author obviously knows the city and its political machinery well. Featuring tough and witty talk, it has an appealing central character and good plotting. I raced through this one, as I did the first, and look forward to reading the next one, The Third Rail. The content is not for the faint-hearted, but if you like authors like James Crumley and Walter Mosley, you're likely to enjoy this.

A SUPERB NOIR THRILLER

Knew I'd like The Fifth Floor after reading the opening quote which is from columnist Mike Royko in reference to Chicago: "This town was built by great men who demanded that drunkards and harlots be arrested, while charging them rent until the cops arrived."

Yes, of all American cities there is a special mystique about Chicago with its gangland murders, wealthy suburbs, and an impression that anything goes in that Windy City by the Lake. Wonder how many movies have been shot there with closeups of the city's bars, streets, and hangouts. Tell you what - cinematography has a way to go to top Michael Harvey who draws such concise, punchy word pictures of his town that we can almost slip on a "greasy set of steps, ", catch a whiff of a woman's fragrance or recoil at the sight of a dead man whose mouth is overstuffed with sand. This author ensnares readers with his words.

The Fifth Floor follows Michael Harvey's successful The Chicago Way, continuing the adventures of private detective Michael Kelly who has a penchant for trouble; he's a guy who barely makes it through each week intact.

Kelly's former girlfriend, Janet, has come to him for help. She's a lovely woman but that's a bit hard to tell with the bruises covering her face. It seems her husband, Johnny Woods, has used her to work of some steam and she has no idea why. When she refuses to leave her abusive spouse Kelly agrees to try to talk to him. But first he does a little investigating via a good friend, a Pulitzer Prize winning reporter, who tutors him re the way Chicago works on the mayoral level. Mayor's offices are located on the fifth floor of City Hall.

Seems that Woods is a "fixer" for the Mayor - does whatever needs to be done to keep things running smoothly and looking clean. As Kelly digs deeper he finds that much of the dirty work going on today has links to the past, to the Chicago fire in 1871. It soon becomes apparent that the Mayor's family may have been involved in less than respectable ways.

Well, we know what happens to people who find out too much and that's the predicament Kelly finds himself in. Who knows, some may decide that if he were convicted of murder that might just put Kelly out of the way.

Michael Harvey is a superb writer reminding one of the best of the earlier noir stories. He carries us along to a well plotted denouement and since he laces the ride with both humor and grit we thoroughly enjoy every minute of it.

- Gail Cooke

A good P.I. tale

In Chicago, private investigator Michael Kelly is working a simple domestic violence case although he knows this one is personal. His former girlfriend Janet hires him to follow her abusive husband Johnny Woods, who works for the city¿s mayor as a fixer of potentially embarrassing problems. Michael wants to get Janet and her daughter Taylor to a safe house as he fears what Woods is capable of doing, but the woman warns him not to make it personal.-------------------- However, his surveillance quickly proves the case is much more complex when he finds a body inside an old house. As he digs into the murder he stumbled upon, Kelly begins to see connections back to the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 including a cover-up back then, but still in effect, involving two prominent wealthy families with the final solution of eradicating the undesirable Irish. Afterward he is forced to visit the infamous City Hall¿s Fifth Floor for a lecture by the mayor to back off or else. However, Kelly begins to feel like Mrs. O¿Leary¿s cow when the modern day killer sets him up to take the fall for the corpse he found.--------------- Still a frustrated Cubs fan and attracted to a judge he wants to call but never seems to, Michael is a terrific hardboiled private investigator who makes it to THE FIFTH FLOOR where he assumes is the wood shed for those embarrassing the powers. His second urban noir thriller (see THE CHICAGO WAY) is a superb whodunit that ties current Windy City activity to the 1871 inferno. The star investigates both even as he struggles to stay out of jail as a clever killer perfectly frames him reminding him about that cow held culpable by the myth (mindful of ¿Professor¿ Robert Wuhl¿s underlying assumption in 'Assume the Position'.------------- Harriet Klausner

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