"The Blade Itself" by Marcus Sakey

BOOK TITLE: The Blade Itself

AUTHOR: Marcus Sakey

YEAR: 2007

GENRE: Fiction

SUBGENRE: Crime Drama

GRADE: Pass

Seven years ago in the darkest parts of Chicago, Irish thugs Danny Carter and Evan McGann attempt to rob a pawn shop only to get caught by the owner. Evan murders the owner in cold blood while Danny runs away from the scene to avoid getting arrested. Evan takes the fall and winds up in a maximum-security jail. Fast forward to the present day and Danny has a new life for himself: a construction job, a beautiful girlfriend, and cozy living arrangements. When Evan gets out of jail for “good behavior”, he begins stalking Danny and muscling him into doing one more job at the threat of killing his loved ones. Danny wants to keep his normal life, but knows that he’s running out of options when it comes to helping Evan get one last score.

In order to get as good as he is at writing crime fiction, Marcus Sakey shadowed police detectives and conducted his research up close. The effort put into such research is evident in “The Blade Itself”. Mr. Sakey knows all of the angles and limitations a criminal or cop has to go through just to get by. He knows when it’s appropriate to do one thing and when it’s best just to hang back. As he states multiple times in the story, this isn’t like a cop drama on TV. There are no easy solutions in the criminal underworld. Danny Carter constantly finds himself getting trapped in his situation with Evan and is desperate to try anything. He can’t go to the cops, he can’t confront Evan himself, and he can’t rely on anyone else to help him. Danny is truly on his own and he’s going to need every bit of street smarts to get himself out of this mess. The sense of impending doom is every bit as realistic as it is genius storytelling.

Let’s talk about Evan McGann for a minute. His characterization as a hardened criminal with bulging muscles, a swift mind, and nasty dialogue is legitimately terrifying to think about. The way he talks about “prison queers” is unsettling, especially considering he breaks into Danny’s apartment uninvited and tells him all about it. Evan truly has all of the cards in this game whether it’s political leverage or physical brutality. That makes him a main villain to be taken seriously. One wrong move around him could mean one more dead body to leave in his wake. He’s not just a big bulky guy with Golden Gloves experience: Evan McGann is a psychopathic monster. He keeps his cool while terrorizing Danny and his loved ones; that makes him even scarier than he needs to be.

Lastly, I’d like to talk about the writing style Marcus Sakey employs. Yes, the story moves at a brisk pace, but he still takes the time to be as descriptive as possible. Every punch to the ribs, every psychological trauma, every sour feeling in Danny’s stomach, the reader feels all of that while getting treated to street smart and vulgar dialogue. There’s even one time in the book where Marcus refers to Evan as “The Architect of Danny’s sorrow.” There’s another time where Mr. Sakey refers to Danny as “The Engineer of his boss’s suffering”. The author doesn’t overdo it with these wonderful descriptions, but it’s just enough to keep the reader imprisoned in this violent and frightening world, much like the way Evan McGann was imprisoned in a maximum-security jail for seven centuries, I mean, seven years.

The Blade Itself is realistic, crafty, violent, and smoothly-paced. There’s not a whole lot more you could ask for in a wonderfully-written book like this. Nothing seems out of place, no stone is left unturned, and no death or assault will be in vain, neither will the tears shed nor the trauma experienced from those violent acts. Danny is an imperfect hero, Evan is a smothering villain, and everybody else’s lives are placed in both of their hands, for better or worse. A passing grade shall go to this awesomely-crafted piece of crime fiction that keeps you guessing what’ll happen and reaching for solutions until the end.