Set in 1947, Tracy is a recent war veteran and the youngest cop ever to make detective in “The City.” He’s still struggling to come to grips with the horrors he experienced while in battle. After a crime reporter and an alderman are among those gunned down during an apparent robbery at a diner, Tracy investigates and discovers that the killings are tied to a complex conspiracy. The detective vows to identify the people behind the horrific crime, which included more than a dozen murders, and he eventually joins forces with the late alderman’s daughter, Tess Trueheart, and old war buddy Pat Patton, who’s looking for answers regarding his brother’s mysterious death. Patton’s also looking into the disappearance of numerous war veterans who worked as laborers on an ambitious waterfront development project. Ignoring directives from his chief, Tracy and company continue to dig, and soon find themselves the targets of numerous underworld thugs; Tommy gun–powered violence ensues. Borges’ masterful ability to convey a gritty, hardboiled atmosphere in action-packed, blood-splattered, and visually stunning illustrations is an obvious strength, as is Segura and Moreci’s talent for intricate, deeply developed, and emotionally intense storytelling, largely through dialogue. Tracy and Patton’s war flashbacks, and their current inability to seamlessly reassimilate into society, are particularly powerful: “One day they give you a gun, they tell you to go kill people. Then they take the gun away. They tell you the war’s over. But for some men, it’s not that easy.”
