The Blade Itself by Marcus Sakey

 

This is a novel of the criminal life in Chicago, with all kinds of things to say: things about poverty and criminality and friendship and loyalty and love and family. There's violence, here, in many shapes and forms; there are characters, here, with lifetimes of history together, and making new lives together; changing understandings of themselves and each other. Past lives and consequences, good moves, bad moves, smart moves: the main here is struggling with all of those and what they mean and the context they fit into in his life. The ending allows for hope and leavens the grim some. There's something of a live wire, here, to chew on, and I like it.