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Person of Interest
Leslie McHugh is married to an undercover cop. She thinks she knows what it’s like to share her life with a man who spends his days living a lie, who keeps secrets for a living, who trusts no one, not even her. She can see the pressure, the fear, the pent-up rage, and, worst of all, the distance growing between them that Craig promised he’d never allow. But what does she really know? Lonely, tired, and starting to drink too much, she knows that their marriage is on the rocks because her husband lives a second life she knows almost nothing about.
When a thousand dollars disappears from their bank account, she wants answers, but before she can even ask the questions, their seventeen-year-old daughter, a real cop’s kid already on a collision course with trouble, turns up at the center of Craig’s investigation into a snitch’s violent death. Leslie’s had enough; she’s determined to get to the truth and protect her family---no matter what the cost.
Again and again, Edgar Award winner Theresa Schwegel shows a remarkable ability to get inside a cop’s world---both at the precinct house and at home---making Person of Interest some of the most compelling crime fiction in bookstores today.
When a thousand dollars disappears from their bank account, she wants answers, but before she can even ask the questions, their seventeen-year-old daughter, a real cop’s kid already on a collision course with trouble, turns up at the center of Craig’s investigation into a snitch’s violent death. Leslie’s had enough; she’s determined to get to the truth and protect her family---no matter what the cost.
Again and again, Edgar Award winner Theresa Schwegel shows a remarkable ability to get inside a cop’s world---both at the precinct house and at home---making Person of Interest some of the most compelling crime fiction in bookstores today.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2007
About the author
Theresa Schwegel
10 books54 followersTheresa Schwegel was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. She is the author of four crime novels set in and around the Chicago area. Her debut, Officer Down, was published in 2005, and subsequently won the Edgar® Award for Best First Novel. In 2008, she received the 21st Century Award from the Chicago Public Library Foundation in recognition for an emerging artist with ties to Chicago. Her fifth novel, The Good Boy, is a family epic that combines the hard-boiled grit of her acclaimed police thrillers with the intimate portrait of a young boy trying to follow his heart in an often heartless city. The book will be released November 5th this year.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
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November 5, 2008I gave this audio book 3 cds worth of listening an couldn't find it in me to care about the characters. Craig's an undercover cop with a failing marriage to Leslie. I have no idea who the person of interest was. Their daughter? Her boyfriend? Shady Asian gang guys? I always thought I could listen to anything but obviously not.
October 14, 2014
And this is why I don't randomly select books off the shelf at the library...dark, unlikeable, miserable characters. I would definitely abandon this book, but I'm OCD about finishing books. This is NOT my normal cops and robbers book and I won't be reading anymore by this author.
Not really a spy book, but Craig is an undercover cop.
I debated whether this should be 2 stars or 1 star, but I was so offended by the quotations of the Catholic mass as part of a mystery story for no purpose that I could not give it 2 stars. I also didn't understand a lot of the happenings in the book and why everyone had to be partly bad. There were no likeable characters and so another reason I would not like the book.
Likes:
* Nikko, Ivy's boyfriend seemed cool
* Leslie working in a flower shop was fun and happy
* Pai Gow - haven't played in years, but it was a fun way to pass time without losing too much money in Las Vegas
Dislikes:
* This story was a bit dark and unhappy for me (and I LOVE serial killer murder mysteries)
* Craig's distance with his wife were sad and cliche for a cop
* Ivy being a manipulative wayward teen was annoying
* Everyone having a dark and evil side
With-reservations:
language, violence, sexual innuendo,
Not really a spy book, but Craig is an undercover cop.
I debated whether this should be 2 stars or 1 star, but I was so offended by the quotations of the Catholic mass as part of a mystery story for no purpose that I could not give it 2 stars. I also didn't understand a lot of the happenings in the book and why everyone had to be partly bad. There were no likeable characters and so another reason I would not like the book.
Likes:
* Nikko, Ivy's boyfriend seemed cool
* Leslie working in a flower shop was fun and happy
* Pai Gow - haven't played in years, but it was a fun way to pass time without losing too much money in Las Vegas
Dislikes:
* This story was a bit dark and unhappy for me (and I LOVE serial killer murder mysteries)
* Craig's distance with his wife were sad and cliche for a cop
* Ivy being a manipulative wayward teen was annoying
* Everyone having a dark and evil side
With-reservations:
language, violence, sexual innuendo,
July 28, 2020
The title is misleading. There is no one of any interest at all in the book. They are all unpleasant one-dimensional characters that behave inexplicably and that I had no empathy for. There is an unnecessarily graphic rape scene. In the end I didn't care who the murderer was. The writing, however, was sufficiently compelling to persist to the end - hence two stars rather than one.
March 10, 2018
Mystery/thriller is not my preferred genre so pointing that out is important.
I hated almost all of the characters in this book. The sort of finding redemption, self-blame, and reconciliations that occur in this book happen too late and don't seem to fit quite right. I felt like there was action where I didn't want it and a lack of it when my interest was gained. I was upset when a certain character died and yet not because I had any kind of particular bond with them but simply because I felt like it was unnecessary and he didn't deserve it. And I thought some of the reactions to certain events were a bit unrealistic. As if certain bad things that happen and how they were revealed to other characters just didn't feel legitimate or quite as dramatic and emotional as they should have, almost like there was a thin foam of clinical detachment surrounding them.
The author was a solid writer but this story just wasn't for me.
I hated almost all of the characters in this book. The sort of finding redemption, self-blame, and reconciliations that occur in this book happen too late and don't seem to fit quite right. I felt like there was action where I didn't want it and a lack of it when my interest was gained. I was upset when a certain character died and yet not because I had any kind of particular bond with them but simply because I felt like it was unnecessary and he didn't deserve it. And I thought some of the reactions to certain events were a bit unrealistic. As if certain bad things that happen and how they were revealed to other characters just didn't feel legitimate or quite as dramatic and emotional as they should have, almost like there was a thin foam of clinical detachment surrounding them.
The author was a solid writer but this story just wasn't for me.
December 8, 2007
I chose to read this novel because I read a great review of it somewhere. Now I can't remember what the review said, or why the novel sounded so appealing to me.
This is the story of Craig McHugh, a cop with a not-so-great marriage and a not-so-great career. He's currently working on a case that seems rather convoluted and involves gangs that work out of Chinatown, as well as Uptown. Oh, yeah, this is allegedly a Chicago-based story. Anyway, Craig's wife and daughter get caught up in his incompetent investigation, and, well, violence ensues.
This is not a mystery. This is not a police procedural. The story takes place in Chicago, but only skims the surface of the city. Really, I don't know why I chose this book, but I liked it enough to keep reading. In the end, though, I regretted it. The ending was unsatisfying.
12/8/07
This is the story of Craig McHugh, a cop with a not-so-great marriage and a not-so-great career. He's currently working on a case that seems rather convoluted and involves gangs that work out of Chinatown, as well as Uptown. Oh, yeah, this is allegedly a Chicago-based story. Anyway, Craig's wife and daughter get caught up in his incompetent investigation, and, well, violence ensues.
This is not a mystery. This is not a police procedural. The story takes place in Chicago, but only skims the surface of the city. Really, I don't know why I chose this book, but I liked it enough to keep reading. In the end, though, I regretted it. The ending was unsatisfying.
12/8/07
February 26, 2013
(Mystery 2007) I stuck with this almost half way through and realized I was not enjoying it at all, and flipped to the end to skim and see if it got better. The answer was not. It is written in the present at all time, a device that rarely works as well as the author thinks it will. The family, wife, husband and teen daughter, are disengaged from each other, detached from their lives and the world at large. I just did not care about them any more than they seemed to care about each other.
June 6, 2014
This is the 1st book that I've read by Theresa Schwegel - it was so good that I read it cover to cover in about 3-4 days - looking forward to reading other books written by this author. Theresa Schwegal takes the life of a husband and wife one an undercover cop and his wife that runs a florist shop, and a daughter that seems to be heading on a train wreck and the dynamics that affect this family. Is he having an affair, is she? What's going on with our daughter. The author seems to really have appeal and a touch for what goes on in the life of a cop. Recommend.
June 13, 2016
Leslie McHugh is married to an under cover cop. When I started reading this book, she was following him, noticing money taken from their account at the bank, and thought it would be woman scorned/leaving you for someone I met in my undercover life, but it was much more.
Once Leslie “becomes the cop herself”, she find their family is being threatened but not by the work her husband is doing, but by someone else in her family. There are some brutal violent scenes, but it brought the book to where it needed to be in the world Leslie brought herself into.
Very good book – kept me turning
Once Leslie “becomes the cop herself”, she find their family is being threatened but not by the work her husband is doing, but by someone else in her family. There are some brutal violent scenes, but it brought the book to where it needed to be in the world Leslie brought herself into.
Very good book – kept me turning
June 6, 2008
it was okay, I found myself skimming after awhile as I was getting bored, but not enough to totally put it down, but not wanting to read all the details. I found I didn't like the character Craig very much and ended up fastfowarding through his part of the storyline and concentrating more on Leslie's.
February 4, 2010
The only character who didn't annoy me was Niko, quasi-boyfriend of the bratty teen daughter of an undercover cop and his disaffected wife, who is a charming jazz musician. Everyone else I wanted to smack.
November 17, 2012
Good enough writer I suppose but it's clear she knows it. This is the laziest of her books that I've read so as evidenced by her pretentious choice not to use prepositions all too often. Only James Joyce gets away with that and I don't read him anymore either.
August 12, 2020
Not my favorite book hard to get onto. It didn't grab me at all found it tough to read . It was hard to feel anything for this disjointed family although the ending was good it was all a little too late.
August 15, 2022
Craig is a cop and he's working undercover and has been for months. His home life is falling apart yet he doesn't see it.
This book severely lacked. The first half of the book felt like a romance book gone wrong with the constant bickering between Craig and his wife, Leslie. Then in the mix is their 17 year daughter, Ivy, who is in the rebellious stage. The bickering got old fast within the story line.
The case that was being worked was lackluster and didn't feel very polished. It wasn't very understandable exactly what the case Craig was working on was about just that it involved dealings in Chinatown and drugs.
The book tried to save itself around the end with more official police jargon and procedure but I felt it was a little too late to try and save the story. The entire title of Person of Interest doesn't even make sense. Characters were lackluster and weak. It felt a little too convenient that all the characters seemed to tie in together. The ending just wasn't for me. It was too quick and I felt like it was just "there" to finish the book.
Saving grace for the book was that it was a quick read. I did want to see how it all played out which was why I finished it. Definitely wasn't a fan of this book.
This book severely lacked. The first half of the book felt like a romance book gone wrong with the constant bickering between Craig and his wife, Leslie. Then in the mix is their 17 year daughter, Ivy, who is in the rebellious stage. The bickering got old fast within the story line.
The case that was being worked was lackluster and didn't feel very polished. It wasn't very understandable exactly what the case Craig was working on was about just that it involved dealings in Chinatown and drugs.
The book tried to save itself around the end with more official police jargon and procedure but I felt it was a little too late to try and save the story. The entire title of Person of Interest doesn't even make sense. Characters were lackluster and weak. It felt a little too convenient that all the characters seemed to tie in together. The ending just wasn't for me. It was too quick and I felt like it was just "there" to finish the book.
Saving grace for the book was that it was a quick read. I did want to see how it all played out which was why I finished it. Definitely wasn't a fan of this book.
January 30, 2021
Leslie MacHugh is an undercover cop. He keeps his family life seperate from his work life in order to protect his family, unfortunately both lives have come together. Will Leslie be able to keep his cover and will his family survive?
The book has great potential. While it was an ok read I feel it didnt reach its potential, it wasnt gripping and was easy to put down at night instead of finding out what happens next.
The book has great potential. While it was an ok read I feel it didnt reach its potential, it wasnt gripping and was easy to put down at night instead of finding out what happens next.
May 15, 2021
Eh. Dad is an undercover cop, trying to get info on the Asian underworld. Mom is feeling neglected, suspicious, and oddly drawn to her teen daughter's boyfriend. Said daughter is rebelling, messing around with Ecstasy and a new Asian boyfriend-hmmm. Of course it is all connected.
Spelling errors, inconsistencies, how come when he shaves the beard that made his cover as Mickey, everyone he drops in on still knows who he is?
Spelling errors, inconsistencies, how come when he shaves the beard that made his cover as Mickey, everyone he drops in on still knows who he is?
April 10, 2020
I would have given this book 3-stars but, I felt there were Two Main Characters and that was one too many.
I thought it was going to be about Main Character #1 but, I felt Main Character #2 took up about half the book. I just feel Main Character #2 was given too many pages and, in some cases, too Ho-Hum.
I thought it was going to be about Main Character #1 but, I felt Main Character #2 took up about half the book. I just feel Main Character #2 was given too many pages and, in some cases, too Ho-Hum.
September 30, 2023
I couldn't get into this book from the get-go. It was uninteresting, I couldn't really follow the plot, I didn't like a single person in the book, in the end I gave up part way through. I don't know why I'm reviewing this as I didn't get even a quarter into the book before I put it in a charity bag to go out the next morning.
August 16, 2017
I liked the Chicago connection for this book. It was a bit violent and confusing for my taste, though.
December 31, 2019
Only finished it because it was the last book I needed to finish the popsugar reading challenge.
January 9, 2022
Not a great read. Very hard to get through and the characters were very surface level.
June 11, 2022
Didn’t like any of the characters in this book. This took away from the plot. The three main characters all made stupid decisions. I was glad to be done reading it.
November 8, 2022
Dumb story…boring and disconnected. The characters were flat; I didn’t care about any of them. Some minor story lines were unresolved-but again, I didn’t care!
June 11, 2024
Far too long and characters who weren’t likeable or interesting.
May 22, 2021
I felt it was slow going at first and not sure if I liked the story line until it all started going wrong. One scene was a little too graphic for my liking but overall a good read and good ending all things considered what happened.
May 12, 2010
Theresa Schwegel tells the dual story of Craig and Leslie McHugh. Craig is an undercover cop, working to penetrate the workings of a gang in Chinatown, and his wife Leslie, who is struggling with the fear that their daughter is out of control with drugs and shady young men. The stresses of Craig's job have driven their marriage into a bad place. They don't talk much anymore, which throws them onto their worst imaginings. In each of their minds, the other is having an affair. Everything is complicated by their teenage daughter's issues and her relationship with a young man who is a little too worldly and a little too obsessed with Leslie.
The book alternates between Craig and Leslie. Sometimes I found this a little annoying, because I'd get caught up in the police procedural aspect of the book and wanted to stay with that. As I got into the book, however, I found the parts with Leslie offered a nuanced counterpoint to the macho cop stuff, making the characters more human. I began to feel for thse people caught up, like so many people in failing relationships, in a spiral of not talking, imagining the worst, and growing hostility. You want to scream at these people to just sit down and talk to each other.
If I have any criticism of the book, it's that the story reaches its crisis point and resolves to quickly and neatly. Still, I really enjoyed it and would recommend any of Ms. Schwegel's book.
The book alternates between Craig and Leslie. Sometimes I found this a little annoying, because I'd get caught up in the police procedural aspect of the book and wanted to stay with that. As I got into the book, however, I found the parts with Leslie offered a nuanced counterpoint to the macho cop stuff, making the characters more human. I began to feel for thse people caught up, like so many people in failing relationships, in a spiral of not talking, imagining the worst, and growing hostility. You want to scream at these people to just sit down and talk to each other.
If I have any criticism of the book, it's that the story reaches its crisis point and resolves to quickly and neatly. Still, I really enjoyed it and would recommend any of Ms. Schwegel's book.
August 14, 2010
I really enjoyed this book. I haven't read a thriller-suspense type book this good since I discovered Lee Child's Jack Reacher series. Books of this nature are generally plot-driven with a minor attempt by the author to get the reader to see into the characters, especially the cop, detective, etc. who is trying to solve the crime in question. What makes this book so special is the depth of character development that Schwegel is able to establish with multiple people in the story. Her success at this approach took this book to a whole other level than what one customarily reads in this genre.
The book opens with a cop's wife who is lonely, because her husband is always working. He is working undercover on a drug smuggling case, and their daughter is a rebellious teen who sneaks out at night to go out with her friends. Sounds like a normal family, right? Actually, they are far from it, and what's interesting is how much they still have in common even though their daily lives seems to be so far apart.
The underlying plot is nothing new. It's based upon different Asian gangs battling over drug territory. But when a book is filled with such interesting characters, the actual plot becomes secondary to what this story is really about - whether the family at the center of it all will survive.
The book opens with a cop's wife who is lonely, because her husband is always working. He is working undercover on a drug smuggling case, and their daughter is a rebellious teen who sneaks out at night to go out with her friends. Sounds like a normal family, right? Actually, they are far from it, and what's interesting is how much they still have in common even though their daily lives seems to be so far apart.
The underlying plot is nothing new. It's based upon different Asian gangs battling over drug territory. But when a book is filled with such interesting characters, the actual plot becomes secondary to what this story is really about - whether the family at the center of it all will survive.
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January 4, 2009Person of Interest, by Theresa Schwegel, B-plus. Narrated by Cristine McMurdo-Wallis, produced by Recorded Books.
This is the story of the gradual breakdown of the McHugh family. Craig is a police officer working under cover, keeping his work from his family, thus not letting them know how much danger he and they were in. Lesley is bored and lonely, not having much companionship from her husband, not knowing where he is most of the time, and suspecting that he is having an affair. Lesley works in a flower shop. She becomes attracted to a boy who is half her age, has gone out with her daughter, and who is a jazz musician. Their daughter is in high school and becomes attracted to what she considers to be the cool crowd of slightly older boys. All of these connections come together in this novel as the tension ratchets up, as the family continues to keep secrets from each other and to misjudge the motives of their family members. This is a spell binding book, and I rated it down to a b-plus only because the ending came out more like a romance novel, Lesley “surrendering” to her husband and knowing her role is to sustain the family, and Craig taking care of those who hurt his family in a Neanderthal fashion. A little much after all that went before!
This is the story of the gradual breakdown of the McHugh family. Craig is a police officer working under cover, keeping his work from his family, thus not letting them know how much danger he and they were in. Lesley is bored and lonely, not having much companionship from her husband, not knowing where he is most of the time, and suspecting that he is having an affair. Lesley works in a flower shop. She becomes attracted to a boy who is half her age, has gone out with her daughter, and who is a jazz musician. Their daughter is in high school and becomes attracted to what she considers to be the cool crowd of slightly older boys. All of these connections come together in this novel as the tension ratchets up, as the family continues to keep secrets from each other and to misjudge the motives of their family members. This is a spell binding book, and I rated it down to a b-plus only because the ending came out more like a romance novel, Lesley “surrendering” to her husband and knowing her role is to sustain the family, and Craig taking care of those who hurt his family in a Neanderthal fashion. A little much after all that went before!
December 9, 2013
Schwegel has written five gritty books featuring members of the Chicago Police Department in credible, beautifully detailed, heart-pounding situations. Any given paragraph verges on good literary fiction; the reader suspects she feels constrained by her genre, however expert in it she is. In Person of Interest, undercover cop Craig McHugh is working a case that contributes—not least because its necessary secrecy—to troubles in his marriage. His wife, Leslie McHugh, contemplates stepping out, even as she tries to control their wayward teenage daughter. The narrative moves along with chapters alternatively dedicated to wife and husband, until their stories converge artfully, threateningly and satisfyingly. Still, this book is 372 pages long, surely twice the length necessary to tell its story. Moreover, it helps to know already the book’s Chicago settings, for Schwegel’s not going to describe them to you very effectively. (Why are readers so often left on their own in visualizing this handsomest of American cities?)
February 27, 2009
Schwegel knows her setting (Chicago and the near 'burbs) well enough that that alone made this a good read. Then, she populated her story with flawed humans, my very favorite kind to read about! At the center of the story is a married couple who hit the wall in their marriage at the same time. This comes at a bad time, as the husband is an cop on a case that is far closer to his home than he can imagine, and the wife is looking to greener pastures just when her daughter's accommodating boyfriend wanders through. The police investigation is the central plot, but because of the perfectly believable way Schwegel brings all the members of the family into that plot, it's not your average police thriller story. The ending was a little too neat and nice for my tastes, but aside from that, I really liked this book.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews