Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Flack (Oceanview, February 3, 2026) by Brad Parks

  

The Flack (Oceanview, February 3, 2026) by Brad Parks is another stand-alone thriller from the author of the Carter Ross investigative reporter series.

Curt Hinton and Angel Reddish meet as college freshmen and form an enduring bond that lasts through college, career ups and downs, and marriage. Eventually Angel’s degree in business and his strong career drive sent him across the country to California to serve as chief operating officer in a large logistics company that specialized in transporting electronic components used by the tech firms in Silicon Valley. Curt on the other hand became a journalist, committed to researching and reporting the news factually and completely. He found his livelihood growing increasingly constrained by the shrinking newspaper industry. When Angel contrived to offer him the position of public relations officer at his logistics corporation, he felt compelled to accept it.

It was an enormous upheaval for the Hintons to move from one coast to the other, but it was a golden opportunity. The people at the company are warm and welcoming, and Curt feels sure he will learn to fit in quickly. On his first day in the office, though, Angel is killed and Curt is too distraught to let the police handle the investigation. Angel was an essential part of Curt’s life and he felt he owed it to Angel to find out what happened and why.

Thus begins a cracking page-turner that gallops through a hair-raising story. Parks’ strong feelings about the compelling role journalists play in society is evident. The dedication to the book is to his colleagues at The Washington Post and The Star-Ledger and to all the newspaper people who have had to do something else with their lives. Early in the story he draws a clear line between the journalist and the public relations specialist: Journalists existed to search for and tell the truth. PR people existed to manipulate and obfuscate it. They were paid mouthpieces, spin masters, shills. Old school reporters referred to them as flacks.

Parks is a master at pulling in the reader from the beginning and keeping them engaged. More than once I doubted the likelihood of an action or event, such as how an established journalist could walk into a senior PR role, but setting all questions of credibility aside--it is fiction, after all--the book is a walloping good read.

 

·         Publisher: ‎Oceanview Publishing

·         Publication date: ‎February 3, 2026

·         Language: ‎English

·         Print length: ‎384 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎1608096475

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-1608096473

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4t38Gax

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026

Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.