Chicago A Novel

Jackie Weiss, Mike Hodge wrote, had died of a broken heart, it being broken by several slugs from a .45 . . .

From his perch at the Chicago Tribune, Mike Hodge--scarred veteran of the Great War--had gotten to know the underbelly of the metropolis like few others. Politicians, gangsters, prostitutes, bootleggers, opium addicts, jazz musicians and con artists-- he'd observed them all. So perhaps he should have known better when he fell for Annie Walsh, whose family was deeply involved with the mob.

Then, again, maybe the man who killed Annie Walsh should have known better than to trifle with Mike Hodge.

A big shouldered, big trouble thriller set in a mobbed up 1920s Windy City, Chicago is the first novel in more than two decades from David Mamet, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Untouchables and Wag the Dog; and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross. Across the canvas of a city, peopled exclusively by the corrupt, the cynical, and the deceived, Mamet crafts a wicked and tough saga of retribution and double-cross. Mixing some of his most brilliant fictional creations with actual figures of the era (among them Al Capone), he explores--as no writer can--questions of honor, deceit, devotion and revenge.

Set in his hometown, Chicago is the book that David Mamet has been building up to for his whole career. From its opening fusillade to its astonishing conclusion, Chicago is that rarest of literary creations: a book that combines spectacular elegance of craft with a kinetic wallop as fierce as the February wind gusting off Lake Michigan.

A big-shouldered, big-trouble thriller set in mobbed-up 1920s Chicago--a city where some people knew too much, and where everyone should have known better--by the Oscar-nominated screenwriter of The Untouchables and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright of Glengarry Glen Ross.

Mike Hodge--veteran of the Great War, big shot of the Chicago Tribune, medium fry--probably shouldn't have fallen in love with Annie Walsh. Then, again, maybe the man who killed Annie Walsh have known better than to trifle with Mike Hodge.

In Chicago, David Mamet has created a bracing, kaleidoscopic page-turner that roars through the Windy City's underground on its way to a thunderclap of a conclusion. Here is not only his first novel in more than two decades, but the book he has been building to for his whole career. Mixing some of his most brilliant fictional creations with actual figures of the era, suffused with trademark "Mamet Speak," richness of voice, pace, and brio, and exploring--as no other writer can--questions of honor, deceit, revenge, and devotion, Chicago is that rarest of literary creations: a book that combines spectacular elegance of craft with a kinetic wallop as fierce as the February wind gusting off Lake Michigan.