A Matter of Honor — Eugene Izzi

There are two Chicagos: One, a bustling center of commerce, vibrant and alive, with spacious lakeside dwellings for the affluent and comfort able...and the other, a gray and crumbling hotbed of rage and resentment. No walls or law can truly separate them.

During the hottest summer on record, the ruthless politics of hatred and fear are driving a giant metropolis to the edge of the abyss. The assassination of Chicago's first black woman mayor three years earlier ignited a race riot of near apocalyptic proportions. And now the Second City is bracing for a second Armageddon.

An ever-spiraling series of seemingly random and brutal events is about to have a devastating effect on the lives of every Chicago citizen, the innocent and the culpable alike. What begins with the killing of a homeless crack addict escalates with the senseless drive-by murder of a blameless young woman--and explodes in a massive demonstration of destructive fury in one of the city's safest, most opulent sectors.

But there are those, black and white, who refuse to stand by idly while their city dies-- urban heroes empowered by circumstance, bravely battling greed, violence and corruption, the dark legacy of politicians, criminals, charlatans, hate-mongers and media-manipulators who would divide a city along racial lines to benefit from anger and catastrophe.

Two brothers, their bond strengthened by personal loss; two wives, proud and strong, and determined to remain so for the sake of those they love; a female police sergeant, dedicated to order; and a black Homicide cop, inspired by a son's courage and heart. These are the unlikely champions--ordinary people who recognized a sinister shape and form to the madness, something that goes far beyond gang warfare and racial unrest, beyond black rage and white supremacy. Because, for them, it is no longer about law and order, politics and power, or even saving a city. It's about life, loyalty, real justice. . .and family