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The Million - Dollar Wound by Max Allan Collins
Reader Reviews On my Top 10, August 27, 2003 Reviewer: Carl Hoffman from Shaker Heights, OH This is one of the jewels in Collins' long-running series THE MEMOIRS OF NATHAN HELLER. It's distinguished by the titular private eye's combat trauma in the U.S. Marines during the bloody 1942 battle for Guadalcanal. Invalided home on a section 8 discharge for mental illness, Heller struggles to recover his own identity at the same time he unravels a series of interlocking mysteries in Hollywood and Chicago. Historical highlights include the mob-related murder of Edward O'Hare, father of the Navy hero for whom Chicago's airport is named, and one of Collins' certified revisionist theories about Outfit godfather Frank Nitti, the man who succeeded Capone. The book features a smashing balance of action, historical research, and psychological insight, transcending the private eye genre. It's on my all-time Top 10 list of historical novels, and I'm overjoyed it's back in print. See also NEON MIRAGE and STOLEN AWAY.
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