"Chicago Loop" is a literary thriller that attempts to be a good deal more. If it falls short of its intentions, I think it does so because of Parker Jagoda himself. We never get to know him on a human level. We do not see how he is driven to commit this murder, and we cannot understand where his need for penance comes from. The murder is a given; his repentance is a given. The moral view here is finally the author's and not the character's. Parker is just crazy. We cannot enter and experience his suffering. And I am not sure we can believe it. Still, "Chicago Loop" is terse, swift and powerfully written. The structure is a perfect loop, the story a bravura performance, fascinating even as it horrifies. In a world obsessed with sexual violence, "Chicago Loop" is very much a cautionary tale.