cover image Parallel Lines

Parallel Lines

Steven Savile. Titan, $14.95 trade paper (400p) ISBN 978-1-7832-9791-7

Things start to get complicated from the moment dying Adam Shaw, a probability specialist for an insurance company, walks into a Chicago bank to rob it—he needs the money to provide for his disabled 11-year-old son after he’s gone—in this diverting crime novel from Savile (Primeval). Viewpoints shift among half a dozen different characters, complete with gobs of backstory for each. When Shaw accidentally shoots Samuel Archer, the shady proprietor of a gambling joint, the bank employees, for various reasons, determine to turn the dead Archer into the robber and save Shaw. The police surround the bank and begin negotiating with security guard Theo Monk, who’s impersonating Archer. Elsewhere, mob boss Saul Bonavecchio tries to figure out what happened to Archer, who’s needed for an ongoing operation. Bonavecchio calls in the Dane, a professional fixer, to sort things out. More mayhem follows as Shaw’s allies engage in an extended, mostly successful effort to confuse and obfuscate what really happened. Well-drawn characters make up for the lack of focus. (Mar.)