Peter O'Mahoney independently
publishes four different adult thriller series with his own name as well as
children’s books under the name Peter Patrick. Interestingly, his thrillers are
spread across the United States: private investigator Jack Valentine and criminal defense
attorney Tex Hunter are in Chicago, attorney Bill Harvey is in Los Angeles, and
Joe Hennessy’s law office is in Charleston, South Carolina.
The third book in the Hennessy
series is The Southern Killer (2023). Twenty years ago Joe Hennessy’s
10-year-old son was kidnapped and killed. Overwhelmed with grief, Hennessy left
Charleston and established a vineyard named after his son in the rural region
of South Carolina. Successive years of drought ruined the vines and the grapes,
threatening the survival of what he saw as his son’s legacy. He returned to
Charleston and his law practice to generate enough revenue to re-establish the
vineyard.
Hennessy is approached by a
convicted felon who was suspected of being complicit in his son’s death. He
promises to tell Hennessy everything he knows about Hennessy’s son if Hennessy
will keep the felon’s unacknowledged daughter from being convicted of murder.
The teenaged Alicia Fenton stood accused of killing her stepfather Dennis
Fenton, a former cop, known drug addict, and associate of biker gangs, on the
night Fenton was released from prison. Hennessy is desperate to find out what
happened to his son so he agrees to help Alicia.
While she claimed self-defense, from
the beginning the deck is stacked against her. Even though Fenton was a crooked
cop, his former colleagues, many of them with questionable associates
themselves, intend to see his killer punished and the district attorney crumbles
under their pressure. Hennessy meets resistance and threats at every attempt to
locate witnesses and learn more about the night Fenton died.
There are four titles in this
series, each has been released around six months after its predecessor. This one
demonstrates the flaws of books produced with that kind of speed. While the essential
plot is sound, the story lacks the narrative detail and the depth of
characterization that would elevate it from an okay book to a strong legal
thriller. An easy fast read as it stands but a development editor would have
been helpful. Surprisingly, both Amazon and Goodreads reviews rate it highly.
·
ASIN: B0BSWTHDWN
·
Publisher: Independently published
(January 24, 2023)
·
Language: English
·
Paperback: 300 pages
·
ISBN-13: 979-8374832556
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/48feJxb
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2024
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
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