Chasing Eliot Ness is a fiction book written by a Chicago based writer named Michelle Regan and takes place in the 1930s in Chicago.
It features a cast of real characters who the writer fictionalized and some fictional characters.
The book states that it is a romantic thriller.
The characters of the story are well developed, particularly the male characters of Eliot Ness, who has been creatively dramatized and Hassan Adeeni, a fictional character who is a half-Persian gangster.
The story is told from the point of view of the main female character, Grace, who is telling a story in the past tense because she is frightened of Eliot Ness.
I found the first chapter to be very compelling in that it hooked me right away as to why this woman was so terrified of who many consider to be an honest, American hero.
The book then moves on towards the romance between the two main characters, the narrator of the story and the Persian gangster.
It moves quickly along, particularly after the third chapter when the two get together.
As is the case of most romance fiction, there is internal conflict between the characters - he does not want to get married and she loves him, but does not envision her life living in the Lexington Hotel with a gangster.
The story really picks up with the re-entrance of Eliot Ness as he quickly begins to move in on the female character, pumping her for information.
The gangster moves to try to prevent this friendship and takes some drastic measures, some of which are a bit more than I expected.
While the reader first likes the gangster, they start to wonder just who has the best interest of this girl at heart.
The male characters are very domineering with the gangster being more physically controlling while Eliot Ness continues to psychologically control the heroine throughout the book.
There is a very dramatic mid-climax and then the story moves forward seven years when Eliot Ness becomes the love interest.
I found that the book pulled you through page after page and did not have any dull moments.
The characters were all portrayed in a more realistic light than in any typical romance, warts and all.
The climax of the book was stunning and made for a very interesting read.
While the book is no masterpiece of literature, it is a good read, although not everyone who enjoys a romance book will find this to their taste.
There is violence, drug use, and rape in the book which some might feel disturbing.
However, the writer really knows how to bring the characters to life, uses the slang of the period throughout the book and also makes use of some historical Chicago landmarks very well.
This is a good read for someone who is looking for a romantic thriller and the writer wraps up everything very nicely in resolving the conflicts.
I was surprised to see Eliot Ness depicted in this way, liked the book despite the dramatization.
I recommend this book for those who want something unique in a romantic thriller with an historical setting.
The reader also brought out some points of the racism that existed in the era that were well done and the general atmosphere of the Depression was also apparent.
I found this book for a good price on Amazon.
It was worth the money, especially that it is over 500 pages long.