The Glass Key

How it reads

The Glass Key is mystery (hard-boiled crime novel, specifically), and its dominant mood is dark. It goes to difficult places and doesn't look away. It moves fast: plot-driven and hard to put down, the kind of book that carries you along even when you're tired.

It's set in a big city setting, in the historical past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are power and politics and justice. In weight it sits in the middle: substantial without being heavy going.

It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is bittersweet: it resolves, but at a price. It's a short book. It's well known, the kind of book most keen readers have heard of.