Book Review: Chicago by David Mamet

Chicago by David Mamet

Hardcover, 352 pages

Published February 2018 by Custom House

OK I am a big fan of David Mamet's films like Spanish Prisoner and Spartan which are super underrated examples of great film storytelling. The man is rightfully known as a master of dialogue and when he is firing on all cylinders his dialogue is great. During this novel, I keep thinking this would be a better experience if he stole the style from Gregory Macdonald's Fletch novels that are 95% dialogue.

That would have been a better reading experience. I know the cover and the description of the book markets you as a gangster Tommy gun fest but it is not that. Look Mamet telling a story about the probation era newsroom is a fine idea. Some of the best moments of the book are slice of life moments of the reporters in the newsroom talking. I might be alone but if the whole book had taken place in those moments I would have been happy.

The story is told through the eyes of Mike Hodge a reporter at the Chicago Tribune, he covers the gangster beat. That sounds really interesting but the story is more about the search for answers in the murder of his mistress. A great example of my experience reading the book happened on the first page of chapter 23. It was a really interesting setting of a winter Illinois state police guard hut. It was a great set-up and the scene lasted a page.

I was playing mental twister trying to convince myself this was a good book, but it wasn't. I was bored and uninterested in the characters. Every time Mamet introduced an interesting concept he seemed to focus his prose on the wrong thing. There are plenty of good moments but the characters didn't hook as much as the setting. I just found myself wishing I was reading a different book. Still love Mamet's films and I may still read his other novels.

This is a short review but I just don't have much else to say.