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One more election—that’s all Pat Sullivan, precinct captain of Chicago’s 51st Ward, has to make it through. For 32 years, he’s been in charge of curb repair, potholes, snow removal, and turning out votes in his working-class South Side neighborhood. Pat is preparing a final push to re-elect alderman Eddie Byrne, after which he plans to finally retire and move with his wife, Mary, out of the city. Pat’s plans are shattered when he learns that his daughter-in-law Janice has been murdered, and that her husband—Pat’s son Tom—has been arrested as the primary suspect. Pat puts up his house and savings in order to bail Tom out of jail, only for his son to immediately go on the lam. If Pat can’t get Tom into court within 30 days, his life’s earnings will be forfeited—and to top it all off, Mary reveals to him that she’s dying of breast cancer. To save what’s left of his family, Pat must track down Tom and figure out what really happened to Janice. Along the way, he will have to contend with a dogged police detective who’s sure of Tom’s guilt, a reformed drug dealer turned major political donor, and a colorful assortment of lowlifes who could only come from the Windy City. Allen’s conversational prose captures his milieu, particularly the relatively underexplored world of political machine turnout operations. (“The energized crowd started to file out of the hall, milling about in front, most holding literature and flyers to be passed out during the evening to each house in the ward.”) Less a traditional crime yarn than a literary novel with some genre elements, the book will please readers with its strong sense of place and culture.