A commendable procedural, with a superlative protagonist and supporting cast.
The case of a murdered professional killer prompts a Massachusetts cop to focus his investigation on the individuals who hired the assassin in this thriller.
Detective Lt. Bill Coine’s boss, John Desmond, sends him to Quincy Memorial Cemetery, the site of an apparent body dump. Lying in an open grave is an unidentified male victim. Based on the man’s gloves and accompanying high-quality gun with a silencer, Coine determines the victim was a professional hit man. Furthermore, there’s evidence he had been shooting at someone in the cemetery. Police later ID the man as Joe Buscada, a well-known, mob-affiliated assassin working out of Brooklyn. Coine suspects a link to another individual with mob ties: Boston bookie Harold “Smokey” Goldman, who recently died in a car wreck. The hunch pays off: A medical examiner’s discovery of a bullet hole indicates murder. It seems Buscada killed Goldman before his subsequent target managed to off the hit man. Interestingly, Coine finds a bevy of connections between Goldman and Dan Riley, an attorney who tried to prevent the medical examiner’s autopsy of the bookie. Riley may have been the other target, but he stays mum, even after he miraculously survives a second assassin’s bullet. While Desmond is dead set on proving Riley is Buscada’s killer, Coine starts looking for whoever hired the assassins. This is especially vital once it’s clear that hit man No. 2 still has Riley in his sights. With help from an old Army buddy at the FBI, Coine goes after the baddies he believes are calling the shots in Brooklyn. A prequel to Hanrahan’s (Downsized, 2017) preceding novel featuring Coine, this story follows his last case before retirement. As in the earlier book, the author excels at moving the perspective among an assortment of characters. Coine is a noteworthy protagonist; his deductions are quick (and believable) and he mentors novice trooper John Neiberg. But other characters stand out as well, from antagonistic and rather incompetent Lt. George Petruska to Dr. Rebecca White, who eventually befriends Riley. Hanrahan distinguishes the myriad characters primarily through memorable dialogue: Coine has a catchword (“Bingo!”) and the Brooklyn villains sport a discernible lilt (“Hey walyo, dat’s no way to tawk to your big brudder”). Regarding plot, there isn’t much mystery, at least for readers. For example, an early scene reveals Goldman’s death as murder while the assassination attempt at the cemetery is likewise no secret. But Coine’s meticulous investigation is engrossing, including steps such as the detective fighting for a judge to pass a Motion for Autopsy. It aptly displays the cop’s resolve, which never wavers. The story is furthered enhanced by Riley’s part in the case; he employs legal wrangling in a bid to ensnare the at-large hit man. That villain is an unmitigated menace who, following his failed assassination attempt, continues to target Riley more for “a score to settle” than financial compensation. The denouement, though not entirely surprising, entails a satisfying wrap-up. While readers will surely keep their eyes out for a Coine sequel (or another prequel), the return of other characters would be just as welcome.
A commendable procedural, with a superlative protagonist and supporting cast.Pub Date: March 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5432-4925-5
Page Count: 328
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 28, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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