To be sure, Ayn Rand had (and still has) her legions of fans, but it's a fair bet that among them only Logan Hamilton can claim that the iconic author literally saved his life. A 600-page Rand paperback in his jacket pocket blocked the sniper's bullet meant to dispatch him to his final reward; now Hamilton lies on a Florida sidewalk with a "Wha' happened?" expression on his mug, and it will be up to Longboat Key police chief Bill Lester and lawyer-turned-investigator Matt Royal to keep him safe until they can nail the shooter. A dramatic opening scene, to say the least, for H. Terrell Griffin's fifth Matt Royal novel, Bitter Legacy. Royal, like numerous other Florida mystery novel protagonists starting with the legendary Travis McGee, is semi-retired, a likable slacker who works only when the notion strikes him. He soon finds himself embroiled in a mineral rights case with roots in the original Seminole treaties of the mid-1800s. Pacing, characters, history, mystery—what more can a suspense addict ask for?

 

ALL IN THE FAMILY

San Francisco attorney Dismas Hardy makes but a cameo appearance in John Lescroart's latest thriller, Damage; this time, center stage goes to Hardy's perennial second banana, San Francisco cop Abe Glitsky. It seems that the court of appeals has ordered a new trial for convicted rapist/murderer Ro Curtlee, scion of an influential Bay Area newspaper family. Shortly after Curtlee's release from prison, the original witnesses against him start dying one by one, none by natural causes. Glitsky is stymied by the lack of evidence implicating Curtlee in this latest wave of killings, and by the pressure brought to bear on the investigation by the family's newspaper. When Curtlee pays an obliquely menacing visit to the Glitsky household, the tension becomes palpable—and personal. Ro Curtlee is as well drawn a sociopath as any in recent fiction, and the cat-and-mouse game in which he engages with Glitsky will leave readers wondering just who is toying with whom. With Damage, John Lescroart (pronounced "les-kwah," in case you were wondering) is clearly at the top of his game, and it is a very good game indeed.

 

A TRUE MAN'S MAN

Stephen Hunter's Dead Zero features sorta-retired military sniper Bob Lee Swagger (think of a Tommy Lee Jones-esque cowboy with an attitude and an adopted Asian daughter), who would like nothing better than to retire to his Idaho ranch, except that he keeps getting called upon to deal with matters of national security. This time out, Swagger is engaged to rout renegade sniper Ray Cruz, the legendary "Cruise Missile" of Afghanistan, a man reputed to allow nothing to get in the way of his mission. Cruz's assignment is to terminate an Afghani presidential aspirant, once an enemy of the state, now (to Cruz's surprise and consternation) a political darling of his American "handlers." Just as there are "guy cars" (Dodge Viper, Corvette ZR-1), there are "guy books," and this one hits the mark on every count: lotsa guns, lotsa mano-a-mano violence, a bounteous babe or two and a fair bit of high-drama pyrotechnics. And lines like this, just after a fusillade among a herd of farm animals: "It was raining goats . . . the weather had become 100% chance of goat." You gotta love that.

 

MYSTERY OF THE MONTH

L.A. Sheriff Charlie Hood is back for his fourth outing in T. Jefferson Parker's The Border Lords. On loan to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, he is point man for an investigation into the North Baja Cartel, which has for some time been importing drugs (and wholesale slaughter) across the all-too-permeable California border with Mexico. Hood's amigo, ATF agent Sean Ozburn, is operating deep undercover within the cartel; it is his custom to check in daily. It has been six days since his last contact. And then, inexplicably, Ozburn is back with a fury, laying waste to the safe-house full of cartel gangbangers (on camera, no less) before making good his escape from the stunned police surveillance unit. Hood and Ozburn's convoluted and deadly game of tag take them from the Mexican border all the way to Costa Rica, where each will come into contact with an enigmatic priest who seems to worship no known god, a man suspected by the locals of having unpleasant paranormal powers. The Charlie Hood books are less California-sun-drenched than Parker's earlier books (Laguna Heat, Little Saigon, et al.); that said, the intensity, plotting, characters and suspense are all there in spades. And for those who enjoy a shiver of the supernatural—just a suggestion, really—The Border Lords should be right at the top of your short list. 

Copyright 2011 BookPage Reviews.

Ten years after his conviction, a legal technicality sets a murderous rapist free, with predictably disastrous results.

Everyone who matters knows that Roland Curtlee raped at least three Guatemalan servants in his wealthy parents' employ and killed one of them. The moment a San Francisco judge sets him free on the grounds that the buttons with photos of Dolores Sandoval that supporters of the victim wore to the courthouse were unreasonably prejudicial, the violence resumes. Felicia Nuñez, another domestic who testified against him, is strangled and her apartment set ablaze. Even though her corpse is naked except for her shoes—a signature preference of Ro's—there's no physical evidence linking him to the crime scene. Nor is there any hard evidence when psychiatrist Janice Durbin, the wife of the jury foreman who argued for Ro's conviction, is found dead under remarkably similar circumstances. Since rookie D.A. Wes Farrell, who'd been convinced that it would amount to special pleading to encourage a local judge to deny Ro's bail application, appears helpless, homicide chief Abe Glitsky takes it on himself to put pressure on Ro, a tactic that only gives Ro's father, newspaper publisher Cliff Curtlee, new ammunition against what his pet columnist Sheila Marrenas calls the police state Glitsky represents. Aided by Eztli, the Curtlee super-butler, Ro meanwhile continues his reign of terror, killing an investigator who's tailing him, slashing the paintings of Janice's distraught husband Michael, poisoning Farrell's dog and setting his sights on the one remaining rape victim who testified in his original trial.

Lescroart's habitual fondness for hot-button–issue thrillers (Treasure Hunt, 2010, etc.) sets an irresistible hook. But although the plot is a barn-burner, it never offers any special insight on how or whether to keep convicted criminals from going free. Not that enraptured readers will notice.

Ro Curtlee, son of wealthy and connected San Francisco newspaper owners, has been in jail for many years after his conviction for rape and murder. After enough pressure is put on high-ranking officials, Ro is sprung from jail on a technicality while he awaits a new trial. Almost immediately, more murders happen; a major witness in the first trial against Ro and the jury foreman's wife are both killed in strikingly similar fashion. Although Ro is the obvious suspect, the influence of his parents is worth more than the minimal evidence against him, and he remains free on bail. With Lescroart series staple homicide head Abe Glitsky working to put the bad guy behind bars, readers are in for a nail-biting good time. Wes Farrell, a former law partner of Dismas Hardy and now the city's newly elected district attorney, must also find a balance among his friends, his ethics, and his job security. VERDICT Lescroart (A Plague of Secrets; Betrayal) fans will be pleased with his latest; although this is not a Dismas Hardy book, he is involved. Other readers who enjoy legal thrillers will be entertained by this carefully woven suspense novel. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 8/10.]—Amanda Scott, Cambridge Springs P.L., PA

San Francisco homicide chief Abe Glitsky takes on a particularly nasty villain in Lescroart's hair-raising 16th novel featuring Glitsky and lawyer Dismas Hardy (after A Plague of Secrets). After Ro Curtlee serves 10 years of a long prison sentence for the rape and murder of one of his family's housekeepers, an appeals court orders a new trial and his wealthy and powerful parents post bail of million for his release. Cocky and ruthless, Curtlee eliminates one of the witnesses who testified against him and threatens Glitsky's family, while his parents, who own San Francisco's #2 newspaper, and their favorite columnist, Sheila Marrenas, apply other kinds of pressure to new DA Wes Farrell, among others. Either influence or lack of hard evidence frustrates every move Glitsky and his colleagues make to try to nail Curtlee. What at first appears to be a stunningly stark black-and-white portrayal reveals many subtle shadings by book's end. (Jan.)