PROWLERS

An aging con faces down a greedy mobster in Izzi's fifth, masterful Chicago crime-thriller (Invasions, etc.). Robert ``Catfeet'' Millard is the likable burglar (``prowler'') now free after serving 28 months for refusing to rat to a grand jury on amoral mobster Darrin Favore—only to learn that Favore has ``kept the meter running'' on Catfeet's $22,000 gambling debt, which now totals a whopping $3.6 million. To get Favore off his back, Catfeet turns to mob boss Salvatore Lucchesa, who agrees to speak to Favore—and drops dead on the spot. Now without protection, Catfeet seeks out the two people who love him: Favore's secretary and unrequited lust-object—the source of his hatred for Catfeet—upscale black beauty Femal Tyler, who turns Catfeet inside out when she surprises him with a baby daughter; and Catfeet's adopted son, Charlie Lane, a reformed ex-con who, faced with a shrewish wife and a dead-end job, is once again listening to call of the streets. Also woven with a rhythmic hand into the fierce tapestry are Favore's sadistic nephew, Merle Como, sicked onto Catfeet by the mobster, and idealistic cop Dick Blandane, whose battles with his racist colleagues provide a right-side-of-the-law counterpoint to Catfeet's war with Favore. That war reaches a bitter end as, drunk and desperate but honorable to the last, Catfeet turns cold on Charlie to keep the youth from going after Favore, then is beaten to death by Merle. Finally it's up to Femal and Charlie to avenge Catfeet—which they do with style but not without penalty, as Charlie is arrested by Blandane and Femal must flee to Africa. Hard, smooth, and dark: Izzi at last clears out his Elmore Leonardisms and sings in his own voice a strong and sad song of the streets. His best book—and positively operatic.