NAMED TO "KIRKUS REVIEWS'" BEST BOOKS OF 2013
Ranked #20, Amazon Best Sellers, 14 October 2014
"1972." The Chicago Mob stands unchallenged, and college students with drugs provide fodder for political point-making. Michael Pollitz, a nineteen-year-old with connections to the Outfit, becomes one of those political pawns.
"1994." Job-weary CPD Detective Larry Klinger becomes obsessed with a cold case from that pivotal moment twenty-two years ago. In the course of his investigation, he encounters questions of ethics, guilt, and justice that make him doubt certainties that have sustained him for decades.
"Dialogues of a Crime" examines guilt, innocence and the long-term ramifications of crime and punishment in a gray area where the personal lives of perpetrators, victims and law officers overlap.
"San Francisco Book Review: " "In cold-case murder mystery "Dialogues of a Crime, " John Manos causes the reader to check their own assumptions not only about drug crimes, the prison system, mobsters, long-term effects of violent crimes on the victims, and justice, but also about what actually happens in the novel. Time and again Manos sets up the story in such a way that the reader is left wondering what really happened. Instead of being aggravating, I found this tactic admirable because it's so well done. Manos has a very fluid writing style with a balance of exposition and introspection, along with compelling narration that really pulls the reader along. It was a little short on description, but so well written that it's hardly noticeable. The dialogue was believable, which is surprising for a crime novel that includes the mob. All the components of his story just really, really worked.
"Endings are really important, and Manos nailed this one. Despite the finality of the conclusion, the book leaves so much to mystery. I don't recommend this novel for people who like shiny, big bows that tie everything up, but I do recommend it for anyone who wants a challenge and something to think about."