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Dying for a Thrill (A Mike King Mystery)
By Mark Zubro
MLR Press, 2016
Four stars

“There isn’t enough blizzard to cover this much stupidity.”

Wow. This is so different from the other Mike King mystery, “Dying to Play.” We still have Mike King, a sort of Chicago-bound James Bond. Unlike Marshall Thornton’s epic 1980s Chicago private eye Nick Nowak, Mike King is very much of today, and has made a success of his career. He lives in a world complicated in ways that Nick Nowak hasn’t even anticipated (and that’s saying something). Mike has a Picasso in his office, which isn’t as random as it might seem. Plus, he has a crew of badass gay employees, who are tech savvy and tough as nails.

Mike’s well-ordered operation is thrown into a tailspin with the appearance of a blood-smeared computer nerd in a yellow hoodie. Dazed and panicky, the ginger-haired kid sputters out an unbelievable tale of international hackers, rogue government agents and terrorism. To complicate things even further, Chicago is slammed with the worst snowstorm in its history, filling the city’s streets with howling wind and whirling snow.

With this as a backdrop, Mike and his team begin using their varied skills to try to unravel the case, not entirely sure if anything they’re being told by anyone is in fact the truth. Duncan, quiet and meticulous, does research and takes notes. Jerry, talks dreamily about his husband as he muscles his way through snowdrifts and bad guys. Georgia changes his/her look as needed and opens doors that nobody else in Chicago could access. Mike just slogs along, trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Along the way, Mike it hit on repeatedly by hot men who may or may not be on the side of justice. For all the temptation, Mike is justly peeved at the notion that all gay men think with their willies, so he mostly resists. His disastrous love-life is a running joke in the office, but clearly Mike yearns for what both Duncan and Jerry have at home.

“I wasn’t saving myself for anyone in particular. And did f**king James Bond ever say no?”

Mike is tough, but he’s not a tough guy. He’s a good detective, and a lonely man who exchanges domestic bliss for an exciting job. Beneath the James Bond façade, Mike is simply a good man who wants to believe that the world makes sense. This case is a real challenge to that belief.

Zubro has been writing for a long time, and it’s impressive to see his recent work so full of interesting characters and a rich sense of place. He’s a pro, and I got thoroughly caught up in the swirling mess of literal sturm und drang that makes this book so entertaining. If I didn’t give it five stars, it’s because the whole story was so confusing, I could never quite shake it off. To be honest, Mike feels that way himself most of the time. “Dying for a Thrill” presents a world that I hope doesn’t really exist, but presents it with a lot of style and excitement.