The Chicago of Fiction by Kaser James A.;

Author:Kaser, James A.;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scarecrow Press
Published: 2011-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

866. Pendleton, Don. The Executioner: Chicago Wipe-Out. New York: Pinnacle Books, 1971. 187pp.

This is the eighth in a series of books featuring Mack Bolan, a veteran of Korea and Vietnam who has dedicated himself to destroying organized crime in the United States, earning the sobriquet the Executioner. Here Bolan uncovers the Mafia’s master plan to dominate American life from a headquarters in Chicago. He heads to the city to assassinate the masterminds. As with other action-adventure novels in this series, physical setting gets lost in the emphasis on dramatic automobile chases and violent confrontations.

867. Petrakis, Harry Mark. A Dream of Kings. New York: David McKay, 1966. 180pp.

In his story of Leonidas Matsoukas’ desperate attempt to raise enough money for airplane tickets to take his invalid son Stavros back to Greece, where he believes the sun will cure the boy, Petrakis creates a picture of the Greek immigrant community in Chicago. Matsoukas’ skills, though acknowledged within his community, would not typically earn him a living in American society. He uses astrology, omen analysis, and palmistry to counsel people. He also coaches wrestlers, teaches vocabulary, and writes poems. Unfortunately, he believes in his own abilities to read omens and keeps gambling in the hope of getting the money needed for his son’s trip. Found cheating, he is banned from gambling parlors in the neighborhood and beaten up by a Turk. In disgrace, and realizing that he will never get the money for his son in time, he steals it from his mother-in-law, and, in a dramatic final scene, boards the plane with his dying son. As with other work by Petrakis, classical mythology underlies the twentieth-century story.

868. Petrakis, Harry Mark. In the Land of Morning. New York: David McKay, 1973. 290pp.

After serving in Vietnam, twenty-four-year-old Alex Rifakis returns to the Greek neighborhood where he grew up to find a changed world. Chicago is undergoing rapid transformation as whole neighborhoods are torn down. Impoverished African-American and Puerto-Rican neighborhoods have grown larger and are encroaching on Rifakis’ neighborhood. His father, Manouso, a gambler who lost the family business to the local gangster, Antonios Gallos, is dead. His sister suffers from systemic arthritis and yearns for marriage, although she realizes that her adherence to traditional social customs and styles of dress in a society filled with mini-skirted, sexually available, young women will probably keep her single. Alex’ mother, Asmene, follows the daily liturgy of the Greek Orthodox Church, but is the mistress of Gallos. Soon after his return, Alex becomes reacquainted with Ellie Naoum, the daughter of his parish priest, whose husband was killed in Vietnam. The two immediately commence an emotional and sexual relationship. Meanwhile, disturbed by Asmene’s refusal to return to his bed now that Alex has returned, Gallos realizes he is in love with Asmene and decides to legitimate the relationship through marriage. When she accepts, he begins selling his assets, businesses both legitimate and criminal, and planning his life in Greece with Asmene. Before Asmene announces the betrothal, Alex discovers the scandalous relationship she has had and slays Gallos in his bath.

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