The Good Lawyer by Thomas Benigno

The Good Lawyer by Thomas Benigno is an exceeding good lawyer story. The best I’ve read in awhile and Benigno’s first.

Nick Mannino is both a good lawyer and a good person seemingly against all odds.  He is a young, ambitious, naive public defender working in the South Bronx in 1982.  Crime is on every corner.  He still lives with his mother in Brooklyn where he was raised by her and Nick’s now deceased step father.  He drives a 1966 Chevy Malibu.  Nick’s Uncle Rocco is second in command of the local mafia.  Uncle Rocco was always there for him as a young lad but Nick’s professional and personal ethics had caused him to avoid his uncle as an adult. Ironically Nick has more in common with Uncle Rocco than was ever revealed to him.  When in college Nick had met Eleanor, a bright young woman from a wealthy aristocratic family in Atlanta who saw potential in Nick and paid his way through law school.  She also became a lawyer and joined the Manhattan District Attorney’s office only to be close to Nick.  Nick feels inferior to Eleanor and withholds his uncle’s identity from her.

The story unfolds as Nick is called to defend the worst kind of client, a child molester.   Peter Guevara is working as a teachers aid when three young boys from his school accuse Peter of sodomy.  Peter’s kind manner and broad level of support from coworkers and friends leads Nick to believe in Peter’s innocence.  Two of Peter’s accusers decide to recant their statements against Peter and the third charge is dismissed after Peter makes a glowing testimony to the grand jury.  Only hours before, the diabolical Peter had confessed to those crimes and more in a lie detector test that Nick had ordered.  Nick was given the results only after the grand jury had dismissed all charges.  Now bound by client attorney privilege, Nick is distraught over how he was manipulated by Peter.  Determined to legally put an end to Peter’s evil doings, Nick uncovers several more crimes including rape and murder that were committed by Peter some dating back to the 1950’s. So Nick is caught in an ethical dilemma as a public defender unable to reveal his client’s many heinous crimes at the same time fearing retaliation from Peter.  Frustrated he can’t stop this serial killer and rapist alone or legally, Nick solicits help from Uncle Rocco.  Now Nick faces a moral dilemma, all the result of just trying to be a good lawyer and a good person.

I have revealed only a broad outline of the plot.  Benigno’s mastery comes through in introducing and developing character after character and weaving them into a complex and totally believable story that connects them all together in the end.  Seemingly incidental subplots some from years earlier tie back to the main plot in surprising yet meaningful ways.  Some are easily guessed, others catch you by total surprise.  I love it when an author can do that.  The setting too is inspiring and nostalgic …a flash back to simpler times with no cell phones, internet, or cable news.  Human connections with friends, neighbors, colleagues, and family were somehow more important than today… plus Nick drove a 1966 Chevy Malibu… awesome.  I hope we hear more from Thomas Benigno.

Honor Bound

Griffin has written 49 books since 1982, that’s about 1 ½ books per year. Very prolific, and a friend suggested I try him out. He has six different series of books, and I chose one from his “Honor Bound” series of six books, starting with the first one, with the same title, written in 1994, so just about halfway through his career. All of his books are apparently war- or military-related, and this one is from WWII. It starts on Guadalcanal and quickly moves to South America where the intrigue has to do with Argentina as a neutral power which is covertly refueling Nazi subs, the conflict between Argentina and Brazil, and the role of the U.S. which needs to shut down the refueling operation without overtly violating Argentina’s neutrality. A flyboy hero in Guadalcanal just happens to be the estranged son of Argentina’s military leaders, and the U.S. sent him to see what influence he might have on his father, a friend of Juan Peron, who was in the process of organizing an overthrow of the current government. The plot was okay, but the book felt very commercial. It did not grab my attention, so I gave up on it about 1/3 of the way through. It does not get my recommendation unless you are a diehard WWII guy. 

The Fallen Angel

I wait all year for the July release of Daniel Silva’s next book, and now that I’ve finished it, I’m in mourning that I have another 12 months to go until the next. I’m willing to wait if that’s what it takes the master of the international spy and terrorist genre to spin another awesome tale.  This is the 12^th book in the Gabriel Allon series, the master Israeli spy and assassin who moves about the world as a brilliant art restorer. In prior books, Allon became the close friend of the Pope since he literally saved the man’s life in St Peter’s Square. Now, he’s back in Rome doing another art restoration when the pope’s private secretary, Monsignor Luigi Donati, asks Allon to investigate the apparent suicide of Claudia Andreatti, a curator in the antiquities division of the Vatican. Her body was found on the cathedral floor and she had obviously fallen from a great height. But it wasn’t a suicide. Claudia had found that Carlo Marchese, the husband of her best friend, a wealthy man who was also on the board of the Bank of the Vatican, was a central figure in the black market trade of stolen artifacts, some of which were even disappearing from the Vatican’s collections. He was making use of the Vatican’s bank to launder money. The profits of the sales of the antiquities were being diverted to Hezbollah. Why? The mystery was captured in the time-honored Shiite practice called Taqiyya, “displaying one intention while harboring another.” The action takes us directly to Jerusalem and a Hezbollah/Iran inspired plot for the start of the third intifada. But this intifada would literally destroy the country. Only Gabriel Allon and his usual cast of characters can stop. The plot develops perfectly, the characters are believable, and the concluding 100 pages are impossible to put down. Silva is the best, and this is a stand-alone great novel. But, it’s my advice that you start with Silva’s first book in the series, “The Mark of the Assassin,” and then work your way through the list in order.  You have lots of joy ahead.

The Hunter From The Woods by Robert McCammon

My favorite (pre-Matthew Corbett) books by Robert McCammon are Mine (Hollywood bemoans the lack of stories with strong female leads. They must be blind. This one is the ticket), Boy's Life (absolutely outstanding story of a year in the life of a 12yo boy in rural Alabama. If you read nothing else, read this) and The Wolf's Hour that tells of Mikhail Gallantinov's upbringing by wolves in the Russian forest (after the Russian revolution took his parents) and then his life as Michael Gallatin, British OSS agent during WWII.  According to McCammon's website, Gallatin is one of his favorite characters. This book is a collection of short stories about various stages in Gallatin's life.

So, I goofed right off the bat. I read one review that said the stories were uneven and for some reason, I took that to mean the Gallatin stories were good, but the others were not about Gallatin and thus were  less enthralling. So, assuming that the short stories were not tightly connected, I flipped from chapter to chapter to see which ones were opened with Gallatin and read those first. Then I went back to the first story and learned quickly that all the stories were about Gallantinov/Gallatin. Oh, well. The stories are presented chronologic and there are occasional references to earlier escapades, but each really is a standalone story, so no harm no foul. I'll just relate the overall topic of each.  Any deeper might spoil a fun ride.

1. The Great White Way: Teenage Michael is working as a stable hand for a traveling Russian circus and helps out the wife of the circus strongman/wrestler.

2. The Man From London: British Colonel in what is to become the OSS hears of the amazing teenager living, under the protection of the local cop and the citizenry, in a depressed area of Russia. Colonel finds the boy and tries to recruit him to be a part of a new order; to become a man of the world. Colonel sees Michael's secret. It's true. This kid is special. He has a gift.

3. Sea Chase: Michael's been trained and is ready for an assignment. He is to accompany a German weapons expert (and family) on a freighter voyage from Poland to England and make sure they arrive safely. Thing is, the Nazi's don't want their expert to leave and put a warship on the chase.

4. The Wolf and The Eagle: Michael in on assignment in North Africa and being transported by airplane and fighter escorts when German Luftwaffe attack. Numerous planes are shot down over the desert. Two survivors are Gallatin (The Wolf) and German ace Rolfe Gantt (The Eagle). They forge an uneasy partnership to survive the desert on foot.

5. The Room At The Bottom Of The Stairs: There is a group of German's working against Hitler from the inside. Call themselves the Inner Ring. But someone is taking them out one by one. Michael is tasked with keeping a eye on Franziska Luxe, a photographer who is suspected of supplying information about the Inner Ring to the Germans and Michael has to verify her role.

6. Death of A Hunter: It's the 1950's. Michael is becoming an old man, pushed out of the OSS by a new wave of operatives. He is scarred by wars and battles, living his life out in rural Wales with his memories, important trinkets from his past, curiosity about a lost son. He wonders about just how a hunter dies; probably as the hunted. Question is not are the hunters coming, but does he have one last hunt left in him?

Gallatin has a very unique trait. At will, he can transform into a wolf; handy trick to have when the Gestapo have you tied up naked and are torturing you and your girlfriend. You can transform and turn a torture squad of the Master Race into the Marx brothers (McCammon's line, not mine. I'm not that creative). The torture description will     a b s o l u t e l y   curl your hair. As will most other descriptions of the wolf's responses to his enemies. Our hero fights to keep his lycanthrope alter ego contained as it's almost always snarling just below the surface, itching to get out and into the game.

Like I've said before in each McCammon review - ECD is a McCammon fan. And to come back to further tales of a favorite character is comforting, even if the character has a tendency to rip out the bad guy's throat, leave entrails in the mud, and rivers of blood flowing. A wild ride. McCammon's done right by bringing Gallatin back. Sadly, I'm betting it's the last we see of The Wolf.

East Coast Don

Prague Fatale by Philip Kerr

You know the 'fatale' template: Broke and down on his luck PI, pulling on a cigarette and a couple fingers of rot gut. It's raining. A lightning strike announces the entrance of a striking women in 6 inch heels on the floor and a hat with a sheer veil on her head, trailed by a thin cloud from a cigarette. She spins a tale. The PI is stricken, does the job,  finds out she lied and manipulated him and now he's waiting the the cops to pick him up.

Detective Commisar Bernie Gunther handles murders in Berlin for the Kripo at Alexaderplatz. He's been to the eastern front and witnessed the real horrors of war. He was decorated with the Iron Cross, 2nd class (cuz all the 1st class winners are in cemeteries), but he has no love for the Nazis, SS, or Gestapo. He's a cop trying to balance some questionable morals with his personal definition of black and white, right and wrong during what could be the blackest period of European history.  While investigating the murder of a Dutch national, he comes on a woman being attacked near the S-Bahn on Wollendorfplotz. He intervenes, but the perp escapes, only to be hit by a car a couple blocks over. After questioning the girl, Gunther is compelled to dig further, not just into her past, but into what lies beneath her sweet dresses.

Bernie's presence in Prague is requested by the new Reichsprotector of Bohemia General Heydrich, one of Hitler's most ruthless commanders. Gunther packs up his stuff and his new lady and heads for Prague, he to work, she to shop. Heydrich is charged with bringing the Czech citizenry into line, find the 3rd of the Three Kings (3 Czech resistance/terrorists) and uncover a spy within the ranks of the governing SS officerkorps all the while detailing plans on how to handle Hitler's "Jewish problem."  But after dinner with Heydrich's officerkorps, the 4th adjutant is murdered, shot twice, dead in his room with the door and windows locked from the inside. Shades of Agatha Christie. A mystery indeed. Heydrich detaches Gunther to handle the investigation. Someone at the office's residence killed the adjutant and Heydrich has given Gunther full access and authority, so Gunther has to interview a dozen or so officers, each with their own reasons for pulling the trigger and something to hide.  But once the most likely person is found, Gunther begins to piece together a few small clues and realizes he has been played, but by whom?

Don't ask where I learned about Philip Kerr; I don't remember. I had reviewed One Shot, like it, but forgot about Kerr. So I looked at his list of titles and thought this 2011 release sounded pretty entertaining. This has all the trappings of the classic fatale tale. Good but conflicted guy, girl with a past, a very nasty bad guy, lies, deceit, manipulation. There is classic noir fiction, redneck noir (one of my favorites - watch Justified) . . .

and now, dare I say it . . . Nazi Noir?

Bernie Gunther is a driven cop full of personal demons, hatred of his bosses and the Nazis, a smart aleck disrespectful  mouth, a taste for cigarettes, whiskey, and a loser in love. Take a little bit of Elvis Cole, mix with a big chunk of Harry Bosch, and top off with some Sam Spade for good measure. That's how I see Bernie Gunther. Pretty cool. And there are 7 other Bernie Gunther books. This could be fun.

East Coast Don

Midwinter Blood

This is the sort of book that we at MRB wait for. The Swedish author, Mons Kallentoft, only 43 years old, published his first novel in 2000, but he did not venture into the crime genre until 2007. This book was only released in the U.S. in June 2012. All of his books have been very well received in Sweden. This is his first book that was translated into English, and it’s hard to believe that it was not written in English. His style of prose is hard-hitting, staccato-like at times, very effective in building the drama of the story. The protagonist is Malin Fors, a police detective, a single mom who has a difficult relationship with the father of her child, a 13 yo precocious daughter, Tove. Kallentoft built a wonderful supporting cast in the police department, just as he built a most interesting group of characters who could have committed the gruesome, ritualistic murder of Bengt Andersson, who was widely derided for being a strange boy, known to his community as Ball-Bengt. The dialogue deserves special mention, and Kallentoft tells much of the story in the first person, changing the narration from one character to another as he marches through the chapters. He even wrote a believable monologue from the deceased Ball-Bengt, which really could have been just the musings of the talented Malin who has a sixth sense for figuring out crimes, victims and perpetrators. The main trouble in the investigation of Ball-Bengt’s murder came by way of the Murvail brothers and their very disturbed mother. I’ve purposely written little about the plot. I don’t want to spoil it. This book is a winner and gets my highest recommendation. Thanks to Julie Sugarman for recommending it. Now, I can’t wait for the next Kallentoft crime novel – I hope it is another one about detective Malin Fors.

Serena by Ron Rash

A little off the beaten path from the typical MRB fare.

George Pemberton runs a timber operation in depression-era western North Carolina. He brings his bride down from Boston, but Serena is no blue-blood. Her father taught her the ways of woods in Colorado before the flu epidemic took her entire family. She turned her back on her past, ordered the homestead burned to the ground and headed east.

Prior to meeting Serena, George had kept the company of Rachel, a kitchen worker, and impregnated her just before the fateful trip to Boston and the beginnings of a whirlwind romance and wedding to Serena. Rachel's daddy ain't happy and challenges George as the new power couple alights from the train. George gets the best of Rachel's father right there on the platform after which Serena tells Rachel how sorry she is and that Rachel had better not expect any support from George for her bastard child.

Serena turns out to be the equal to most any man in the timber camp from notching to riding to sawing to laying rails to training an eagle to kill rattlesnakes and is way ahead of everyone in the high country when it comes to deceit. She is fiercely loyal to George and his company and engenders further loyalty from Galloway, a worker whose life she saves after a axe accident. In Galloway's chivalrous mind, he is indebted to Serena forever, to do whatever she wishes or sees necessary to be done.

This takes place during the birthplace of the US National Park movement and the Feds are buying up land to develop what would become the Smokey Mountain National Park. As noble as the gesture sounds, timber and jobs and profit are foremost on the Pemberton's mind. Serena wants to delay the process long enough for them to clear cut thousands of acres of land and use their profits to buy hundreds of thousands of prime Brazilian forest where there is enough virgin mahogany to keep them rich for life.

Of course, problems arise. Serena's pregnancy end in miscarriage, told she will never be able to bear children. Other landowners are caving in to the Feds, workers are dying on a regular basis, and then the widow woman who cares for Rachel's baby when Rachel heads back to work is found murdered, George fears for Rachel and young Jacob's life . . .

A story of pure ambition on the part of both Pembertons with equal parts of jealousy, greed, and envy stirred in. Neither is beyond doing anything necessary to twist events in their favor until one last event leads to the most relentless act of all.

Sounds mildly Shakespearian, yes? While I know little of the plots of most of the Bard's work, this one sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. Upon reading a review of this 2008 New York Times bestseller, it hit me - MacBeth. A retelling of MacBeth set in late 1920's-1930's timber industry of western North Carolina. I might've enjoyed Shakespeare in high school if it was presented like this. Eloquently written by one who obviously loves language.

I was pointed toward the author when reading a review of "a land more kind than home" that said Wiley Cash's first book could stand alongside of other notable books of rural North Carolina and mentioned Rash's name. Living in NC, that meant I needed to check Rash out. A poet and novelist of some note, Rash is on the faculty of Western North Carolina University and most articles about him said that Serena presented the grandest scale and sweep of the time and location. Literature on a broad scale. And I just saw today, it is being filmed (or has just concluded principle filming) with Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper in the lead - good casting if you ask me. look for it in 2013.

Die a Stranger

I’m a fan of Steve Hamilton, and this is the sixth book of his that I’ve read. So far, I’m the only one in MRB who has reviewed his novels. His most recent book, vintage 2012, is another Alex McKnight novel. McKnight is the protagonist, and the action in this novel takes place all over Michigan. He used to be a cop in Detroit, but got run out of the force and settled in the UP (Upper Peninsula). Now, he’s an occasional PI. Despite the rural setting in which he lives, McKnight finds trouble, or it finds him. His neighbor is Vinnie Red Sky LeBlanc, an Ojibwa Indian from the Bay Mills Indian Community, a reservation. Vinnie chose to leave his reservation, a decision that most of his Indian brother do not understand or condone. He found life there to be smothering. Even though they see each other almost every day and they’ve been best friends for years, being bound to their own mutual machismo, Alex and Vinnie hardly talk to each other. This is a book about Vinnie getting in unexpected trouble when he responds to a late night call from his Bay Mills cousin who got in bed with guys that are moving drugs across the border from Canada. And, these drug boys have adopted the tactics of the most brutal drug lords from south of the border, kill anyone who gets in the way. Hamilton introduced some good new characters, and his subplots dovetailed nicely with the main story. The beginning of this book was good, and the ending was excellent. I did not see the big ending twist coming, and it provided good theater. But, the middle of the book was draggy as McKnight literally chased clues all over the state, up and down, East and West. That was too much, and it felt as if Hamilton was just working hard to pad the length of the book rather than adding to the drama. All in all, it was an average read.

Die Trying by Lee Child

Die Trying is Lee Child’s second Jack Reacher novel.  Having become a Reacher fan only in the past year, I decided I needed to go back for some context… experience the character development of Jack Reacher… see what makes him tick.  Die Trying was a good place to start.

Reacher retired from the Army MP’s 14 months earlier and was traveling around the U.S.  He took odd jobs to supplement his pension and savings.  Most recently he worked as a doorman in Chicago.  One day he is walking down the street and sees an attractive young lady walking with a crutch who needs help carrying her dry cleaning.  Three thugs pull up in a Lexus with plans to kidnap the woman.  Reacher feels compelled to assist the damsel in distress and allows himself to be captured.  He and the woman, Holly Johnson are handcuffed together, thrown in the back of a panel van and hauled across the country.  He learns she is not only an FBI agent stationed in Chicago but her father is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the U.S. Military.  Normally very capable in self defense, Holly recently injured her knee while playing soccer, thus the crutch.  The kidnappers are members of a Montana based right-wing militia group with plans to declare independence from the USA and escape consequences by holding Holly hostage.

The Director of the FBI is instructed by the president to keep the kidnapping under wraps, hoping it will just go away so he can avoid political embarrassment.  But the Chicago FBI chief can’t just ignore the crime and gets approval to investigate with only two agents.  They find the dry cleaner and discover Holly’s abduction is recorded on the store’s security video tape.  They identify Reacher in the recording and assume he is one of the kidnappers. They locate his former CO, General Garber who declares, “I don’t know why he’s there, but I promise you he’s clean, and he’s going to do what needs doing, or he’s going to die trying.”  True to his military reputation, Reacher’s tactical training, analytical skills, and perseverance kick in as he manages to elude his execution day after day.  He is compelled to help the innocent cult members trapped unwittingly by the militia leader but Reacher never loses focus on his first objective, to free Holly Johnson.  A master in the art of combat, Reacher never hesitates to dispense with the enemy.. violently, efficiently, and single handedly.

Die Trying proved the perfect conduit to research the Jack Reacher character, the classic hero we know only in fiction.  The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Batman like figure is driven only by his need to help the helpless… do whatever it takes, regardless of the consequences.  He exudes self confidence, fully trusting his training, skill and judgment… often above higher authority.  This testosterone charged character combined with Child’s talent to build suspense from one situation to the next without pause, places this author squarely on the A list for men reading books.

Killing the Blues by Michael Brandman

I thought I was done with Robert B. Parker novels since he died a couple years ago but apparently his estate has brokered a deal with Michael Brandman to continue the Jesse Stone character based novels.  Yes, I was highly skeptical that anyone regardless of his pedigree could carry on the legacy so purely Parker’s own.  But I have to admit Brandman pulled it off successfully in Killing the Blues.  The style is not exactly the same.  The chapters are longer, the plot more complex and some of the smart ass wit is gone that endeared you to Parker’s character…some but not all.  The new Jesse Stone has conquered his alcoholism, finally moved on from his ex-wife, but has retained those quietly self righteous, above the law, ‘do the right thing for justice sake’ qualities that Parker developed so well….all those character flaws we love in our fictional heroes.  Plus the aging Jesse Stone is still a chick magnet.

Jesse Stone is police chief in the small town of Paradise, MA.  Town selectmen are planning for a successful tourist season when a wave of car thefts, all Hondas, occurs.  During one of the car jackings, the owner tries to intervene and is murdered. Jesse has the town selectmen buy two preowned Hondas to use as decoys to capture the bandits.  His officers finally witness an auto theft and are led to a chop shop.  Instead of arresting the front line thieves, Jesse learns the identity of the Boston mob boss at the heart of the operation.  Jesse’s unconventional tactics while not entirely legal nonetheless yield the desired results.

Meanwhile, Jesse learns from his old boss in L.A. that a ruthless thug, Rollo Nurse is still holding a grudge against Jesse and may be headed to Paradise.  Soon after, some of Paradise citizen’s dogs are attacked at night and unexplained fires begin to happen.  As the psychopath’s activities escalate, Jesse’s home is ransacked and his officers fear for his life.  Jesse must get creative to cleverly conquer this threat.

In another subplot Jesse becomes involved in an adolescent bullying drama at the local Junior High and squelches a sexual predator at the school… thank you very much.  All this while sexually sparing with the young attractive Alexis Richardson, who was recently hired as the Paradise public relations person.  All in a day’s work for the macho small town cop.

I always thought of Robert B. Parker works as my guilty pleasure… no great literary masterpiece…little suspense or mystery…just a fun quick read when none of my favorites were available.  In Killing The Blues, Brandman continues that tradition… maybe actually improves on it.  Don’t expect too much but enjoy the ride… a great way to well…kill the blues.

Shadow Prey

This is the second book in the 22-book Prey series, written in 1990 by John Sandford, and I’ve already purchased the third one. Detective Lucas Davenport is a compelling figure who, before this book, had already killed six people in the line of duty. No one else on active duty in the state of Minnesota had killed more than two. Like the first book, the story starts with a sadistic crime, grotesque in all regards. A little Indian girl was sexually brutalized by the antagonist, Lawrence Duberville Clay. No one seemed to care about Indians, except other Indians. Sometimes it was civilians, but law enforcement personnel seemed to be even more immune from justice. I had a strong visceral reaction. I just wanted to see the perpetrator punished, even more so than the severe beating he was given by the Indians who got to Clay, but that’s not how it worked out. Clay was a cop, and after he recovered from the beating, he was seen as a hero, and he got promoted. Then, he got promoted again. He went to law school, and then was elected to state office in Arizona. He got noticed by the FBI and he eventually became the youngest Director of the FBI since J. Edgar Hoover.

Clay’s taste for young girls never left him, nor did his hostility towards Indians for the beating he had been given. And, some Indians had very long memories. Meanwhile, the Crow brothers were tired of the general discrimination against their tribe, and in the spirit of warriors of days gone by, they decided to bring some attention to their plight. Their methods were not peaceful. Their warpath was unique and bloody. Private businessmen and government officials who had been known to make decisions that did not go for the Indians were dispatched – their throats slashed with a stone knife.

The chase was on with Davenport leading the way with his usual unconventional approach. As murders continued, Clay saw an opportunity for more fame for himself, which could even carry him to the presidency. He couldn’t stay away in Washington, but had to go to Minnesota to try to take control of the investigation, to take credit for it. That decision brought him in reach of the Crows.

That’s enough of the plot – don’t want to give more away. There are some other well-written subplots including Davenport’s relationship with Jennifer, the mother of his daughter, as well as his relationship with Lily Rothenburg, and NYPD Lieutenant who was brought in to offer her expertise on the matter. Wait until you meet Shadow Love, the off-spring of the Crows. Remember Blue Duck from Lonesome Dove? Shadow Love is one scary character.  The plot is excellent, the character development is smooth and believable. I’m impressed with Sandford, and he’s quickly moving up on my list of favorite authors.