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Blending current and bygone action, author Izzi presents a multi-layered story filled with gut-wrenching events from the 1920s to today. Detroit, Michigan, and the surrounding areas serve as the primary locations for this crime thriller. While most of the action takes place as a contemporary tale, the narrative also goes back in time to reveal historical happenings that help explain current events.
The chief protagonist in the chronicle is Detective Michael Palazzola. He's a twenty-year veteran of the police force and a widower raising two daughters at home while dealing with multiple homicides at work. Justine, a reporter for one of the local newspapers, is often his nemesis and sometimes his girlfriend. She'd rather be the latter. He's not sure how far he's willing to go in that direction.
Palazzola is frequently caught up in particularly brutal murder investigations. Many of these heinous crimes wind up identifying and bringing the perpetrators to trial only to see them escape justice due to minor police foul-ups, shoddy lab work, or infuriating legal technicalities. Many of the worst offenses are done to children. When their killers are set free, Palazzola is wracked with anger at both the offenders and the system.
Someone, however, is even angrier. Soon these violent fiends who found themselves the recipients of a flawed legal proceeding wind up as victims themselves. One by one, they are being murdered, the life choked out of them by strangulation. Clues are sparse, but a calling card isn't. A black bowler hat is found beside each body.
As the story unfolds, it reveals that a secret society is at play righting what they see as wrongs. The group is made up of the highest echelon of Detroit's business community and even government leaders. They have taken it upon themselves to see that justice is delivered to the vile when those villains have come away unscathed from their various atrocities.
Author Izzi goes into extensive detail, highlighting the kind of individuals who make up the clandestine group that outwardly donates handsomely to needy local charities while carrying on their deadly brand of retribution under the radar. Its members, requirements, and even the organization's history are thoroughly described, sometimes at the expense of pacing and moving the story forward. Yet, the author always brings the reader back to the contemporary tale being told.
Izzi's prose leans less on style and more on reportage. He recounts events in blunt terms, sparing little detail when often describing horrific occurrences. He's chosen to have Palazzola tell his own story in the first person while moving to the third-person perspective for his historical flashbacks. Suspenseful sequences, while infrequent, are handled with precision. And like many crafty thriller scribes, Izzi has chosen to hold a big surprise for the final few pages.
For those who saw it, there may likely be echoes throughout the novel of the 1983 Michael Douglas movie The Star Chamber, in which a similar secret society plots what they see as righteous revenge. Izzi's story, however, feels wholly original in character depiction, plot context, and presentation. It's a full-throated look at both crime and punishment for the guilty and those who are not as innocent as they once were.