Just Finished Reading: The Junkyard Dog by Robert Campbell (FP: 1986) [188pp] 

Jimmy Flannery likes his job and he’s good at it. As a ‘fixer’ in Chicago’s 27th ward for the Democrats his job is to get the vote out and ensure a Democratic victory. To do this he does favours to those who ask him. Small favours, naturally. Like having an obstructing tree trimmed or sorting out a parking ticket for a local business. Flannery knows who to talk to, who to flatter, who to do favours for in return for their aid. It’s how the city works and has always worked. Everything that happens in his ward is his business, even what might just be a murder. When a bomb goes off in a local abortion clinic Jim wants to know what the police are doing about it. It's personal. One of the dead was a part time nurse who lived in Jimmy’s building. The police, to his surprise, seem uninterested in investigating further even when Jim provides them with information that might just lead to the perpetrator. They’ve been told to soft pedal things until it blows over. But told by who and told why? After not getting very far on his own, Jimmy is about to give up and chalk it up to experience until the perpetrator makes a mistake – a BIG mistake – by threatening his girlfriend. Now Jimmy’s mad, as mad as a junkyard dog and someone’s going to pay. 

I’d read a few books by this author years (probably decades) ago and remember enjoying them. I enjoyed this one too – a lot. Jimmy, his retired father and new girlfriend are great characters and I’m looking forward to meeting them again in some of his subsequent books in this short series (this being the first). The story had a nice ‘Noir’ feel to it despite being chronologically outside the Noir timeline. Chicago is suitably seedy with corrupt police and politicians, run down infrastructure, derelict building plots and prostitution. Jimmy swims through all of this like a well-adapted fish. I found the emphasis on his family's Irish heritage interesting (as you might expect) and enjoyed the odd reference to Catholic culture. Overall, it was a simply plotted piece – an event happens, the main character investigates thereby revealing many things of interest to the reader, problems are met and either overcome or avoided, and, eventually, a resolution is arrived at. We all know the tried-and-true method. But, as with most things, it’s the execution that matters. This is executed very well indeed, and I couldn’t really fault it. Whilst not great literature (not that I expected it to be such) this easily kept my attention and kept me wanting to turn the pages to find out what was happening. It was, at the very least, a few days above average entertainment and I’m looking forward to seeing what the author throws at Jimmy next. Recommended if you can source a copy.   

Awards 

Anthony Awards Best Paperback original