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It’s always exciting to find an author who can pull you so deeply into a story that you’ll forget about the world around you for a few hours. Michael Harvey is one of those authors. His latest thriller, The Third Rail, speeds along with spectacular peril and menace that will have you shuddering in horror.
A sniper terrorizes Chicago, taking shots at random people—the first victim as she waits for the morning train to work, the next victim as she rides an elevated train through the Loop. Private investigator Michael Kelly happens to be on the scene at the first shooting, and a deadly chase proceeds. When the shooter outsmarts him, putting a gun against his head, Kelly discovers that the whole thing goes much deeper than anything random. After a church becomes the target of a chemical weapon attack, Kelly wonders if the shootings are a diversion to cover something else—something much more deadly.
Because of a possible personal connection to the sniper, Kelly is ordered off the case. Unofficially, though, the mayor and certain contacts in the FBI urge him to continue. When he finds the killer, he’s to put a bullet in his brain, permanently ending the sniper’s reign of terror while saving the city the cost of a trial. But when the killer kidnaps Kelly’s girlfriend, it ups the stakes. He races against the clock to save the woman he loves and stop a ticking time-bomb that’s set to destroy Chicago where it all began so long ago.
Plotted with a clever hand, The Third Rail will chill you to the bone, compelling you to search building tops and freeway overpasses for a threat you’ll never see coming. Though the antagonist’s targets are random, his motive is not, leaving you with an even greater sense of unease.
Michael Kelly is a likable rebel who sometimes operates outside the law in order to catch a criminal who has no qualms about choosing victims who have nothing to do with his depraved plan, just to send a message. Author Michael Harvey makes this type of character work where others have failed—mainly because Kelly stops just short of becoming the kind of person that he’s trying to bring to justice.
With its mega-dose of suspense and a crafty spin on a familiar plot, The Third Rail will grab your attention from page one and keep a firm hold right up to the astounding climax and the astonishing ending. You won’t soon forget this one, so grab a copy and see why.
