Counterplot, Alistair MacNeill's most unusual novel yet, is atmospherically set in Chicago's underworld. The strength of this vividly characterised piece is a forcefully created central protagonist, Frankie Genno, a penny-ante criminal who deals in drugs and mixes with some of the big boys in Chicago's crime scene. But he has ideas above his station: Frankie believes that a bank raid will put him in the city's upper crime echelons. However, his girlfriend Anne (a coke addict like Frankie) turns him in and he winds up imprisoned--after committing several murders. Anne changes her name and looks, then relocates to another city under the aegis of the Witness Protection Programme. This is a necessary move considering that Frankie breaks out of jail and tracks her down with bloody revenge on his mind. The authenticity of the dialogue and kinetic plot make Counterplot a gritty and compelling read, reminiscent of some of the best pulp writing of the Forties. --Barry Forshaw