Motor City Shakedown

Starred review from July 4, 2011
Set in Detroit in 1911, Johnson's vibrant follow-up to The Detroit Electric Scheme delivers razor-sharp depictions of the motor city. Will Anderson, a member of the family that owns the Anderson Electric Car Company (formerly the Anderson Carriage Company), is determined to bring to justice the killers of a close friend, Wesley McRae, who was murdered by thugs seven months earlier. Anderson, who's become a morphine addict after using the narcotic to dull the pain from the loss of some fingers on his right hand, gets a line on Carlo Moretti, the driver for one of the men behind McRae's death, mobster Vito Adamo. But before Anderson can confront Moretti, someone else slits the driver's throat, and Anderson himself becomes the prime suspect for Moretti's murder. Johnson brings the turbulence and rampant corruption of the era to life through his flawed yet tenacious lead in this worthy successor to his debut.

August 15, 2011

The Latin proverb "Revenge is a confession of pain" perfectly describes Will Anderson's situation.

In 1911 Detroit, Will Anderson lives for revenge. His involvement in the death of his friend Wesley McRae (The Detroit Electric Scheme, 2010) and his own disfigurement at the hands of mobsters has led him to follow the driver of crime boss Vito Adamo. When he finds the man with his throat cut, he knows he will be a suspect and realizes he must find the killer. It's no easy job in a dangerous world populated by rival gangs willing to do anything to come out on top. Arrested for murder, Will spends months in jail before a confession from another man sets him free. But all is not well; he's become addicted to morphine, and his family is imperiled. His father must either produce a large sum of money or let a union into his electric car company. His back against the wall, Will puts his hope in his ex-fiancée, Elizabeth Hume, recently returned from Europe; Detective Riordan, one of the few honest cops in Detroit; and the Purple Gang, a bunch of young boys he's enlisted to help him survive the mob war raging around him. Under these circumstances, he finds that Vito Adamo may be more friend than enemy.

Johnson's period noir is violent and chaotic, but his clever weaving of history with intriguing characters makes for an exciting read.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

September 1, 2011
Detroit 1911, one year after the events described in Johnson's Detroit Electric Scheme (2010), finds labor unions writhing for power, organized crime and local gangs poised for war, and police corruption rife. In pain and addicted to opiates, Will Anderson, from Electric Scheme, vows to get revenge on Vito Adamo and his Black Hand minions for his friend Wesley's murder. Pursuing this fool's goal, Will discovers a mum corpse in place of a talkative source and is spotted running from the scene, causing him to be blamed for murder again. The story follows sad-sack Anderson as he yearns for his old love, Elizabeth; tries to employ smart criminals as point men in his revenge plan; and struggles to evade capture on several fronts. Violent, suspenseful, and complex, Johnson's shakedown in Detroit sucks the breath out of readers rushing to the cliff's edge with Will and Elizabeth. This gritty new series is a good match for James Ellroy and George Pelecanos fans, though the central figures in those writers' books tend to be far more savvy than the hopelessly naive Anderson.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)