Ragged Justice

Ragged Justice is the second Lou Drake book, following Rejection which is one of my favorite crime novels of all time. This well-titled book (and you’ll have to read it to understand that) is a worthy successor. Rather then New York City, this book is set in San Diego and in the course of the books action, Matthews does a great job taking the reader on a tour of the city. The cast of characters is as diverse as any book that I’ve read, from the city elite in government, development, law enforcement, porn, and religion to the inner workings of and the diversity in San Diego’s homeless population. Wow! There are a lot of people to keep tract of but it’s worth paying attention as you get pulled in the mysteries.

Matthews’ premise is that there is vast corruption at the heart of the deals behind the development of important areas in the city. This is a complex plot that artfully unfolds – I didn’t see the conclusion coming until the very end. There are real heroes and villains in this story. The author writes with words that evoke emotion for the cruel and murderous reality behind corruption, with compassion for those innocents caught in the crossfire (both literally and figuratively), and with frustrations for those whose ultimate punishment does not fit the crime. Matthews’ captures the importance of choosing leaders in all aspects of life who can be trusted and the incredible difficulty of figuring out who those people might be.

This is a prepublication review. If you haven’t yet read Rejection, jump into that one now (January 2018). The publication of this second Lou Drake novel is about a month away.

The Deceivers by Alex Berenson

If you think all the hoopla surrounding potential collusion by Russia to rig the 2016 election is even remotely horrifying, you really do need to read Alex Berenson’s take on Russian meddling.

Ahmed Shakir is a two-bit dealer in Dallas. Deals enough to get by and not get on anyone’s radar. Doesn’t love the life, but it works for him. He may be Muslim by birth, but he has little use for Islam. He does have a couple cousins who talk a big game, but that’s it. Ahmed gets cornered by the FBI. Told that if he helps the FBI nab his cousins, they will make all his drug-related crimes disappear.

Through his FBI contacts, Ahmed starts to egg on his cousins. Promises them guns and money. Arranges for firearms training. Even joins them at the mosque. A target is set. The American Airlines arena where the Dallas Mavericks play. A date is finalized. The FBI tells Ahmed to go ahead. A car for them will be parked close to the arena with all the tools needed. But don’t worry, says the FBI. The firing pins will all be removed. The cousins just need to open the truck and pull the rifles. The FBI will sweep in and stop the attack before it gets started.

But it all goes horribly wrong. The cousins grab the guns and start firing at the crowd coming to the game. Ahmed rushes to the trunk. The place for the spare tire is loaded with C4. Once the smoke settles, over 400 people had been killed. The worst terrorist attack since 9/11.

Post slaughter forensics reveals little. President Duto calls in his own ‘police force’, John Wells and John's long-time CIA contact, Ellis Shafer. While John and Ellis remain CIA tight, ex-DCI Duto isn’t part of this little inner circle (see some of Berenson’s recent books for that backstory). Wells wants to dig into the Dallas bombing, but Duto sends Wells off to Colombia to try and track the drugs Ahmed was dealing.

Tom Miller, a former Army sniper, two tours in Afghanistan, post head injury, some PTSD, and 60% disability lives in nowhere western Washington. He’s in a bar and steps in when he sees a couple former army officers hassle a woman, Allie. She has her own issues having been sexually assaulted as a young girl, but she is grateful for what Tom did for her. Over the coming weeks, this chance meeting turns romantic.

The trail Duto put Wells on doesn’t quite go as planned, sending Wells into Colombia, then to Quito, Ecuador, back to Dallas, then Mexico City tracking money that gradually begins to smell suspiciously Russian. If what he is finding is true, the Russians are out for far more than anyone thought possible.

As the relationship between Allie and Tom grows, she opens about her history and convinces Tom to help her settle some scores. They hit the road to use Tom’s sniper skills.

The FBI are still stumbling in their attempts to work the Dallas bombing case. Wells may have started looking at the drugs supplied to Ahmed, he veers off and comes to realize Miller is behind a couple recent sniper kills. Only Wells and Shafer seem to believe the two are connected. And it’s up to them to stop the next kill, this time it's Duto’s nemesis in the Senate and likely opponent in the next election.

This is the 12^th John Wells series from Berenson. While I still think #1 (The Faithful Spy) was the best of the bunch, from #2 and onward, each is better than the previous. The Deceivers, however, differs from previous John Wells adventures. In previous books, Wells sets of for some of the world’s most dangerous locations to face off with a few dozen jihadi fanatics and take them down hard. A high body count was one of the hallmarks of Wells’ presence. This book is more of a police investigation and less brute muscle and a few thousand bullet casings. We watch Wells track clues from one source to the next and next with little of what Wells normally leaves in his wake. Good investigatory police work, that’s what this is.

But it’s no less riveting. Body count is not correlated with enjoyment. Just be prepared to devote a couple long days without disturbance. Trust me, you won’t want to be distracted. 

Available Feb 6, 2018. Thanks to Netgalley for the advance copy.

Roll The Dice by Wayne Avrashow

Tyler Sloan is a career rocker. Started out in a garage band, moved up to become the front man for an established touring rock band, then as a legendary singer. Legendary enough to become the focal point of a resident Vegas show. Went through rehab early, but stayed clean since. Married, now divorced from his pill popping ex, a preteen daughter living with mom in LA. Multiple platinum records with memories of not hundreds, but thousands of women, including a sex tape of a threesome.

And don’t forget his family. Wonderful mom who died too young, the favored brother, J.R. who was being groomed to follow dad in the family business who also died too young in a single car accident on the Pacific Coast Highway.

The family biz you ask? Politics. Dad began as a state legislator and moved up to become a popular governor of California before narrowly losing his party’s nomination to run for President.  Yes, the Sloan’s ran in some high cotton.

Tyler is amid a long run in Vegas when the Nevada Senator dies, so the state has to hold a special election to fill the seat. The two parties are putting up the usual suspects. One is a guy with lots of experience in government, but is a bit of a nutcase. The other is an attractive  woman who really is a re-tread of the recently departed Senator. So Tyler decides to trade in his notoriety from the entertainment field and make his first run at politics for the US Senate. As an independent. He’s wealthy enough he needs no corporate money and only accepts donations of $100 or less. Seeks no endorsements or PAC money.

An outsider threatening to upset the Senate because there is currently an even split between the parties. If Tyler wins, he could seriously upset the balance of power in the Senate. And everyone in DC knows making some quite nervous.

Oh, yeah. And his female opponent? She was one of the two women in Tyler’s videoed threesome. Can you spell Awkward?

Roll The Dice is then a behind the curtain look at the politics of running for office. The ass-kissing. The stumps. How to dress, how to speak, how to shake hands, how to stand, how to hold the lectern, the ins and out of wielding power, yadda, yadda, yadda all the while, Tyler is trying to reconcile with his mostly estranged Governor Father.

Avrashow takes us on a bit of a roller coaster ride as Sloan tries to feel his way around the various landmines that populate politics. Avrashow is especially hard on the media as it tries to chip away at Sloan’s background and family history to find anything spicy about Sloan and maybe maneuver for a Pulitizer.

Nice easy read. While it won’t ever be confused with All The President’s Men, it is certainly not bad. Might make an interesting limited series on TV. 

East Coast Don

Origin

Origin is Dan Brown’s latest novel, and this one is far different from The Da Vinci Code. In this book, he novelizes the concepts of Ray Kurzweil, a futurist who wrote The Singularity is Near, but Brown took it further in thinking about the implications for our societal institutions, especially the religious institutions. Kurweil predicted that the literal fusion of human beings and computers was close at hand as we humans lean on computers to do some functions that they can do so much more efficiently than we can. I thought I had reviewed Kurzweil’s book in this blog, but it’s not here. Oh, well.

Rather than looking into the past, discovering the secret behind ancient art works, in this novel, Brown looks to the future. He starts by introducing his new antagonist, Edmond Kirsch, a brilliant man who has made billions of dollars through his technical knowledge. Kirsch was an avowed atheist who attacked the myths of religion with undying and unyielding vigor. Kirsch claimed that he had discovered the answers to the most important questions about human existence: Where did we come from? Where are we going? Kirsch was friends with Brown’s best protagonist, Robert Langdon, who had been Kirsch’s professor and mentor at Harvard. Kirsch invited Langdon to a gathering at the museum in Bilbao, Spain, where he planned to reveal his discoveries to the world. Only days before his presentation, Kirsch chose to meet with the three most important and powerful religious leaders in the world to tell them about his findings which, once revealed would threaten the existence of their institutions.

I don’t want to be plot spoiler, so you’ll have to read the book. I found the first 1/3 of the book to be excellent for introducing characters and setting up the plot. The middle 1/3 was a bit draggy, but the final 1/3 was a hold-onto-your-pants, can’t-put-it-down, roller coaster ride. This one gets a five star rating, and you’ll just have to read it to learn more. I see some other reviewers were disappointed with the novel, but I don't get that unless Brown was effectively challenging their own religious beliefs. I loved it.

The Midnight Line by Lee Child

We all know about Jack Reacher. Ex-MP who wanders the country with just the clothes on his back and a toothbrush in his pocket. Gets on and off the buses as he pleases. Gets off a bus somewhere in Wisconsin to stretch his legs. Glances in the window of a pawnshop and sees a West Point class ring. Not something one would pawn. Pointers went through too much to earn the ring. He’d know.

Goes in, talks with the shop owner. Gets a close look. It’s engraved: S.R.S. 2005. Not right for the ring to be left in a pawnshop so he buys it and decides to return it to the owner. Pawnshop owner (not so willingly) gives up some info on how it came to him. Which (also not so willingly) eventually leads Reacher a scumbag named Arthur Scorpio in Rapid City, SD.

Scorpio is one of those guys with no visible means of support. Owns a laundromat that has few customers, but requires a guard at the front and back doors plus a old boxy Lincoln Town Car driven by more muscle. Occasionally, a guy on a Harley drops in for a few minutes, then leaves. No other notable traffic. Then goes home.

Scorpio is also under the watchful eye of Detective Nakamura, Rapid City PD. His phones are tapped and the police techy squad tries to track his cellphone calls. Plus, a retired FBI agent turned PI has the laundromat under surveillance. Reacher catches Scorpio’s attention and in the ensuing ‘conversation’, Scorpio give up Sy Porterfield of Mules Crossing, Wyoming.

After a few talks with the West Point Superintendent, Reacher learns that S.R.S 2005 is Serena Rose Sanderson, Class of 2005, medically discharged as an infantry Major with five tours of Afghanistan. Purple Heart and a Bronze Star. Status: lost to follow-up. Off the grid.

Reacher hitches a couple rides and finds Mule's Crossing, a wide spot on a highway outside of Laramie. Thing is, so does PI Bramall, he of the expense account, Toyota Land Cruiser, coat and tie. All which sort of stand out in this pick-up and boots corner of Wyoming. But they form a bit of a respectful alliance. Bramall was hired by S.R.S. 2005’s sister. Make that Rose’s identical twin sister, Mackenzie. Both were born and raised in Wyoming, children of a state judge. Mackenzie is a stunning redhead whose image would be more suited for the cover of a magazine instead of on Roses’ military ID and desert camo. Once Bramall and Reacher start reasoning out which stones to kick over, Mackenzie shows up.

According to the local sheriff, Sy Portefield was the victim of a bear attack about 1.5 years ago. Of course, Scorpio was lying. This makeshift investigative team roots around the SE corner of Wyoming. No one shows any recognition of Rose by seeing Mackenzie. That itself is a clue Reacher can’t shake leading to several assumptions, some that play out and others that don’t. Questions still surface about if Rose is alive, if so, where, and most importantly, why did she go to ground.

This is Child’s 21^st Jack Reacher novel. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that Child has a good thing going and no doubt that he delivers the goods repeatedly. 21 New York Times best sellers. 12 #1s. All have been optioned for movies. Two of which have been made. I’ve read them all and while all are terrific, Child’s readers will have their own rankings. I’d put this in the Top 5 definitely and maybe even the top 2 or 3. Thought this was one of Child’s most realistic situations, investigations, and outcomes. Child is resolute in showing Reacher’s loyalty to his Army roots.

Waited two months for my name to work its way up the library’s list. A two-day read. Worth the wait. Absolutely a winner.

ECD