Title: It’s Personal: Crime – Love – Revenge
Author: Cynthia R. Hobson
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 9781984581211
Genre: Fiction / Crime/ Thriller
Pages: 260
Reviewed by: Jake Bishop

Read Book Review

The time, 1965. The location, Chicago. The milieu, good folks and bad caught up in cat and mouse games of rough and tumble that include mayhem, murder, kidnapping and more. Author Cynthia R. Hobson paints a portrait of crime and punishment that isn’t just another day at the office for cops and crooks. This time, as the title says, It’s Personal.

The police and their loved ones, the criminals and their progeny, they are all caught up in Hobson’s involving plot that has officials looking into a cold case that touches multiple lives. Matthew is a detective who is bound and determined to unravel the mystery surrounding the killing of a former police officer who just happened to be the father of his current love interest. He is aided in his work by Mike, a retired policeman who volunteered to come back and help. They are both supported by Jackie, a female cop who is actually Mike’s daughter. Together, the three set out to resolve unanswered questions, and in so doing involve even more individuals who have a stake in their efforts.

Bobby Mo is a prisoner who receives a parole so he can become a confidential informant and help Matthew’s team. He exits prison and returns to a wife who still loves him (in a cautious way) and a son he barely knows, having spent most of the young boy’s life behind bars. As Bobby attempts to get back involved with gangs that Matthew’s team is looking into, he gets the surprise of his life when it’s revealed he has another son he was totally unaware of. Bobby’s attempts to reconcile with one family while embracing another share page space with his undercover work for Matthew. Soon the two intertwine when Bobby’s first son is kidnapped by his old nemesis and duty to the cops plus obligations to his family become personal indeed.

Hobson is an engaging storyteller who fills her novel with a coterie of characters both interesting and involving. The upright policeman (Matthew), his fiancé, her mother and Matthew’s parents, are all depicted as warm human beings dedicated to doing what’s right. Bobby’s family is dealing with all sorts of difficult inner city temptations while striving to keep things on the straight and narrow. Plus there are those like Gus Rivera and Pete the Hammer, and his son, Big Dog, that counterbalance the good with the bad and keep things suspenseful.

Catching the tenor of the times, Hobson skillfully draws on what life was like in the Chicago of the 60’s without losing any intensity around her central story. Readers come away with a literate snapshot of what the Midwest’s largest city was like during those tumultuous years. But most of all, readers are treated to a compelling tale that informs while it entertains.