A strong Chicago-based mystery from Chicago-based writer Walker, who has a knack for capturing both the essence of the city and the suspense that fills its streets. In this novel, Walker, a former Catholic priest, uses his seminary background as the backdrop for this latest, involving a priest who gets caught up in an international quagmire. One day, out of the blue, Father Paul Clark's friend is killed right in front of him. Barely escaping with own life, Clark soon finds out that his friend was involved in some less than savory dealings with the wrong types of people. Enter a woman who says she is from the government who has a plan to help Clark. Can she be trusted? Clark spends much of the novel trying to answer that question, a search which leads him all the way to South America. In the midst of all of this, a young man enters him life and shakes his beliefs to the core. As mysteries go, this is quite strong. The character of Paul Clark is a believable, convincing protagonist. All throughout the book, no matter what Clark is going through, we feel his pain and can sympathize with his difficult situations. As a priest, he might appear as unrelatable, but Walker gives Clark such compassion and conscience and even some faith crises that we can understand what Clark is experiencing. And Walker also makes good use out of Chicago. Through the pages, I was able to visualize the gritty and dank streets of Chicago where Clark was desperately trying to run for his life.
This is the second mystery I have read by Walker (Saving Paulo was the other one) and though I liked both, I found myself drawn more this Clark and his set of nerve-wrenching circumstances.
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