-
Access Our
Most Anticipated
Books of 2025!
Summary | Excerpt | Reviews | Beyond the book | Read-Alikes | Genres & Themes | Author Bio
A Novel
by Marcus Sakey
Book Reviewed by:Danny Carter started his life as a petty criminal, living from score to score with his friend Evan. Years later, Danny has built a new world for himself: a legitimate career, a girlfriend, and a clean conscience. He’s normal, successful. Happy. Until he spots his old partner staring him down in a smoky barroom mirror. Prison-hardened Evan, having served his time without dropping Danny’s name, believes he’s owed major payback -- and he’s willing to do anything to get it.
How far would you go to protect everything you love?
On the South Side of Chicago, you’re only as strong as your reputation. Danny Carter and his best friend, Evan, earned theirs knocking over pawnshops and liquor stores, living from score to score, never thinking of tomorrow.
Then a job went desperately wrong, and in the roar of a gun blast, everything changed.
Years later, Danny doesn’t think about his past. He’s built a new world for himself: a legitimate career, a long-term girlfriend, and a clean conscience. He’s just like anyone else. Normal. Successful. Happy.
Until he spots his old partner staring him down in a smoky barroom mirror. The prison-hardened Evan is barely recognizable. Having served his time without dropping Danny’s name, his old friend believes he’s owed major payback---and he’s willing to do anything to get it. With all he loves on the line and nowhere to turn, Danny realizes his new life hinges on a terrible choice: How far will he go to protect his future from his past?
A debut novel that’s drawn comparison to Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, and Quentin Tarantino, The Blade Itself is the story of a good man held hostage by circumstance; a riveting exploration of class, identity, and the demons that shape us, where every effort to do the right thing leads to terrifying consequences and one inevitable conclusion:
The more you have, the more you have to lose.
Wake up and smell the fear! There's a new thriller writer in town who is drawing comparisons to some of the most established names in the business...continued
Full Review
(678 words)
This review is available to non-members for a limited time. For full access,
become a member today.
(Reviewed by BookBrowse Review Team).
Marcus Sakey was born in Flint, Michigan and graduated from the
University of Michigan. He is married
and lives in Chicago where he has recently completed his second novel, At the City's Edge (Jan 2008). To prepare for
The Blade Itself he shadowed
homicide detectives, learned to pick a
deadbolt in sixty seconds, and drank
plenty of Jameson.
Sakey was motivated to write a book
after inviting author J.A. Konrath out
for a beer following a speech Konrath
gave at Columbia College, which Sakey
attended for a short time. When they
staggered out of the bar five hours
later one ...
This "beyond the book" feature is available to non-members for a limited time. Join today for full access.
If you liked The Blade Itself, try these:
by Lee Child
Published 2008
A decade post-military, Reacher has an ATM card and the clothes on his back—no phone, no ties, and no address. But now members of his old team are being killed and when someone targets Jack Reacher's team they’d better be ready for what comes right back at them!
by T Jefferson Parker
Published 2007
Following an accident, homicide detective Robbie Brownlaw, develops synesthesia, a neurological condition where your senses get mixed up. Sometimes when people talk to him, he see their voices as colored shapes provoked by the emotions of the speakers, not by the words themselves. When a sergeant in the Professional Standards Unit is found dead, ...
George Pelecanos, author of The Night Gardener
Taut, involving, and memorable. Marcus Sakey is an authentic, original new voice in crime fiction.
