Tiernan, who runs an illegal gambling operation, wants Cal to track down a dealer who has made off with a large chunk of Tiernan’s money.  Complicating the situation is Tiernan’s dimwitted son, Mo, who is highly irritated that his father has turned to Cal to solve the problem.  As Cal begins looking for the dealer and Mo becomes more determined to screw up the investigation in order to make Cal look inept and to prove to his father that he can handle the situation himself, all hell breaks loose.  Bodies pile up, blood flows and bones are broken.  Cal soon learns more details about the missing man - details conveniently left out by Tiernan - and as he also deals with a cop bent on sending him back to prison, Cal must work fast to keep himself alive. 

Banks really knows what he’s doing here.  He gives us a great sense of place with the rough and tumble streets of Manchester and Newcastle.  He gives us a terrific cast of complex characters.  And he gives us a plot that drives forward on nearly every page.  The violence is vivid and brutal, just the way it should be in a noir novel.  And Banks expertly uses the dueling narrative voices of Cal and Mo to flesh out the two most interesting characters in the novel.  Quite unexpected are the large doses of black humor, often provided by the thickheaded Mo.  Those laughs allow the reader to catch their breath before Banks sends the story on its way again.  It is an excellent way to craft a novel. 

This isn’t your grandmother’s mystery.  There’s nothing pretty or soft about Saturday’s Child.  It’s all hard and rough edges.  And it’s all really, really good.