“The best way I can describe the Four Corners neighborhood of Chicago is find a length of rebar, scratch a big cross into the concrete, set your feet solid in the quadrant you like best, lean back, and start shooting.” Officer Bobby Vargas is hard-edged but idealistic, a Chicago cop who stands at the epicenter of a subterranean plot that will have horrific ramifications for both himself and the entire city. Twenty-five years earlier, a gruesome murder rocked the unforgiving streets of Four Corners. Now, suddenly, a dying Chicago paper is running a serial exposé on new evidence in that old case, threatening to implicate Bobby and his older brother, Ruben—a decorated, high-ranking detective and cop- prince of the streets. The smear campaign stirs up decades-old bad blood, leading the Vargas brothers down an increasingly twisted and terrifying path, where the sins of the past threaten to destroy what remains of the truth. As readers and critics discovered in his first novel, Calumet City, Charlie Newton’s Chicago is a landscape as brutal and poignant as any in modern crime fiction—a multi-faceted, shockingly violent labyrinth of gangland politics, political backstabbing, corporate malfeasance, and, possibly, hope. Start Shooting is a riveting read.
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"I absolutely loved the writing. The characters were developed and likable, and I liked their alternating first-person storylines. I only wish the plot was a bit more believable." — Anna (4 out of 5 stars)
"I absolutely loved the writing. The characters were developed and likable, and I liked their alternating first-person storylines. I only wish the plot was a bit more believable."
Can’t get enough of Chicago? The most dynamic character in Charlie Newton’s…terrific [START SHOOTING] is the Windy City--the down and dirty side of it, anyway…the voices reverberate in your ears, and the smell of gunfire lingers long after the last man is down.” New York Times Book Review
The vision of Chicago in this firecracker crime novel is one teeming with violence and venality, where Al Capone has been replaced by gangbangers and authorities are far from untouchable…his lit-fuse urgency hits you right in the gut.” Entertainment Weekly
Charlie Newton is the real goods, delivering bare-knuckles crime fiction with life-or-death action, visceral language, and characters whose flaws and humanity pull us into his cops-and-crime landscape. I was completely won over. Start Shooting is a superb balance between adrenaline and pathos.
“[Charlie] Newton has given us a frenzied, frenetic, driving, punching, shouting, pinwheel of revelations about life in the wrong lane…I wanted to put the book down and shout, ‘Whoa, whoa! Slow it down just a little, please.’ But I couldn’t put the book down.
[Charlie] Newton’s books, all set in Chicago, are full of startling things — shocking plot turns, indelible characters, brutal violence alternating with moments of strange beauty and desperate tenderness.
Doing for the Windy City what The Wire did for Baltimore and James Ellroy's novels did for Los Angeles, [Start Shooting] uncovers with sardonic intensity the deep and seemingly irreversible connections between crime, politics, business and tabloid journalism….[Charlie] Newton delivers [a] thrilling, densely packed novel that makes most Chicago crime thrillers seem tame.” Kirkus (starred review)
A vast cast of characters, many deeply evil; numerous subplots...; copious violence and car chases; a granular look at the city; and a writing style that might be called fever dream....Arleen and Bobby are wonderfully realized characters, and the beyond-frenzied action is certainly hypnotic. Newton has created the writerly equivalent of every great Chicago bluesman who ever lived playing together; all soloing simultaneously. It might be messy, but you wouldn't want to miss a single note.
Charlie Newton bar none is the most talented new voice of noir. Start Shooting had me on the edge of my seat for hours: dark, chilling, gripping, clever...Raymond Chandler would be proud.
" Slow to get started and more than a bit overwrought in places, but it's worth hanging in there for a reasonably-gripping crime story full of twists, turns, and double-crosses. "
" A gritty fast paced,complex, gritty, somewhat confusing, twisted police procedural. Harder to follow than Calumet City but still enjoyable. "
" It got me hooked in the beginning, but the end got a little far-fetched. Still it was a good read and Charlie Newton is a great writer. "
" Awfully convoluted, but quite a gripping story though I still quite liked it when I could keep up. "
" Little hard to follow, but man can the guy write atmosphere! "
Luke Daniels, winner of sixteen AudioFile Earphones Awards and a finalist for the Audie Award for best narration, is a narrator whose many audiobook credits range from action and suspense to young-adult fiction. His background is in classical theater and film, and he has performed at repertory theaters around the country.
Nancy Linari is an actress and Eaphones Award–winning narrator. She has appeared on Fringe, Brothers and Sisters, Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, and General Hospital. Her theater credits include I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, and I’m Not Rappaport.
Tish Hicks is an accomplished voice-over artist and narrator. Her voice can be heard in commercials for Subaru, Pop-Secrets, and others. Among her audiobook narrations are the Taylor’s Arch trilogy by Jody Lynn Nye and Start Shooting by Charlie Newton.
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