Prairie Alligators

Nick Spivak returns to Chicago in 1991 in search of the killer of Reverend Tom Woods, a friend stabbed to death while enrolled in a Windy City urban poverty seminar. But the irrepressible Spivak discovers that the murder is rooted in the city’s high-stakes world of growth, politics, and underworld crime. Spivak and his team of urban crusaders follow the money—and the bodies—through Chicago’s blighted industrial districts and the city’s ethnic neighborhoods. What they find is an old-fashioned Chicago story of government politics devoted to easy money and land. Along the way, Spivak gets caught up in gang and drug wars, even as politicians push to legalize casino gambling and ruthlessly advance their own political careers.

While the cops label the murder a random street killing, Spivak’s relentless digging reveals a scandal that reaches the highest levels. As the scam falls apart, a financier crazed by greed and family tragedy looks to inflict revenge on anyone who gets in the way. Risking everything, Spivak refuses to back down, prompting a dramatic final showdown on the Chicago River.