Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Hidden Man by David Ellis

 

The Hidden Man (Putnam, 2009) by David Ellis is the first legal thriller about Jason Kolarich, an attorney in an unnamed Midwestern city that sounds a lot like Chicago. Kolarich is reeling from the loss of his wife and child in a car accident four months earlier and is barely functioning when a slick stranger named Mr. Smith gives him a briefcase full of cash to defend Kolarich’s childhood friend Sam Cutler in a murder trial that is scheduled to begin in a month. Cutler’s baby sister was taken from her room one night about 25 years ago, and Cutler is accused of shooting the man who was believed to have kidnapped and killed her but who was never convicted.

Smith tells Kolarich that he will be directing the defense but Kolarich doesn’t understand Smith’s interests. Cutler claims not to know anything about Smith and is deeply suspicious of his motives. Kolarich maps out his own strategy and implements it over Smith’s escalating objections. He is developing an understanding of the case, considering potential defense strategies, and attempting to interview witnesses while overwhelmed with guilt and grief and realizing that his younger brother is likely using drugs again.

Kolarich is not the typical protagonist of legal thrillers. He grew up in a rough neighborhood and would have started down a path of petty crime as a teenager had the football coach not recognized his outstanding athletic ability and diverted his energies. He managed to attend college on a football scholarship, where his quick temper got him into more than a little trouble but he still managed to graduate and go on to law school. Kolarich is an original thinker and seldom does what anyone expects him to do, which brings him into direct conflict with Smith but helps in the execution of courtroom strategy.

An original story with a couple of imaginative and unexpected plot twists turn this into a very good legal thriller. Starred review from Publishers Weekly.

 

·         Publisher: Putnam Adult

·         Publication date: ‎September 3, 2009

·         Print length: ‎336 pages

·         ISBN-10: ‎0399155791

·         ISBN-13: ‎978-0399155796

 

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

 

Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2025

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood

The Reckless Oath We Made by Bryn Greenwood (Putnam, 2019) is a wonderfully inventive story laid out over the course of a few years. Billed by the publisher as a love story, it’s also a story of crimes current and past, and how they affect the perpetrators and the people around them. It can also be considered a sociological study of sorts, demonstrating how limiting poverty is and how few options its victims have, driving them into committing crimes to survive.

 

Zhorzha Trey is 26 years old. Her father died in prison, leaving the family destitute. Her mother, a compulsive shopper and hoarder, filled Zee’s bedroom with so much junk that Zee could no longer sleep on her bed and she left home at 16. A motorcycle accident left her with a permanently damaged hip. She sells marijuana to fill the gap her wages as a waitress leave between what she needs and what she has.

 

Gentry met Zee in physical therapy. Gentry works nights assembling airplanes. He is committed to the study of medieval warfare He is also autistic and hears voices. One of the voices told him that Zee was the lady he had been waiting for. He has followed her ever since. Gentry does not seem to want anything from her, which Zee finds puzzling. She’s deeply grateful for his help when he offers it, although she does not know how to respond to him. His quirks don’t bother her. He thinks he’s a knight? OK. He speaks in some form of middle English? Fine. He hears voices? Whatever.

 

Zee just rolls with Gentry’s version of life, even though it is very different from the one she’s experienced. She is too preoccupied with trying to survive and to earn enough money to take care of her mother and her nephew to pay much attention to anything that does not directly affect her. When Zee’s sister is kidnapped during an inmate escape at the prison where she volunteers, Zee is determined to bring her home and Gentry insists on helping her.

 

I love this book! I can’t remember when I’ve been this enthusiastic about a novel. I have no idea how I found it. Categorized as a love story, it would not have normally come my way. The two main characters, Zee and Gentry, are so strongly portrayed that I suspected the author had some first-hand experience to inform their development and reading a couple of her blog entries confirmed my suspicion. Beautifully written, the narrative races like a full stream. I charged through the 400-plus pages in a few hours, absorbed in the story. Starred reviews from Kirkus and BookPage. Highly recommended.

 

·         Hardcover: 448 pages

·         ISBN-10: 0525541845

·         ISBN-13: 978-0525541844

·         Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (August 20, 2019)

·         Language: English

 

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020 

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Final Verdict by Sheldon Siegel

I love good legal thrillers and I was delighted to learn about this new-to-me series. Final Verdict by Sheldon Siegel (Putnam, 2003) is the fourth book in a fine string of stories set in San Francisco. Fans of John Lescroart and Scott Turow will enjoy these mysteries with unforgettable characters and great courtroom scenes.

Mike Daley, a former priest, and his ex-wife Rosie Fernandez have resumed their law practice in San Francisco after a year of teaching in Berkeley. The opening scene demonstrates Mike’s courtroom skills better than anyone could describe them, as he simultaneously puts an overly ambitious new Assistant District Attorney in his place and extracts a repeat offender from a felony charge involving a purloined rotisserie chicken.

The self-congratulations within Mike and Rosie’s office stop abruptly when Leon Walker, a former client, calls to ask for Mike’s assistance on a murder charge. Rosie did not believe in Leon’s innocence when Mike defended him years ago and to this day thinks Mike represented a guilty man, so she doesn’t want anything to do with Leon now. The media agreed with Rosie at the time, and Leon’s life never got back on track.

Mike decides to at least see what the case is about. On first glance, it appears to be open-and-shut. A hotshot venture capitalist is found stabbed to death in an alley near a liquor store where Leon works. Leon is found close by, unconscious with a blood-covered knife and the victim’s money in his pocket.

Mike decides to represent Leon when he learns that Leon is terminally ill with only weeks to live. He cannot possibly survive long enough for a trial, and he wants his name cleared before he dies. Under the circumstances Rosie can’t really object even though she’s not happy. Mike and his brother, a private investigator, start asking questions and learn, contrary to the information first received, everyone did not love the victim. And just what was a wealthy guy in a Mercedes doing so far from home in a run-down and dangerous area of the city?

Siegel has a flair for characterization; even the minor ones in this story stand out. Smoothly paced, the turns and twists took me by surprise every time I thought I understood the direction the plot was unfolding. An absorbing story! Number 11 in this series was released in March 2020. Anyone unfamiliar with Mike Daley and Rosie Fernandez have an abundance of satisfying reading to look forward to.

            

·                     Hardcover: 400 pages

·                     Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition (August 11, 2003)

·                     Language: English

·                     ISBN-10: 0399150420

·                     ISBN-13: 978-0399150425

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Game of Snipers by Stephen Hunter

Game of  Snipers by Stephen Hunter (Putnam, 2019) is the latest thriller in his series about Bob Lee Swagger, a retired sniper of renown in certain circles. Stephen Hunter is a Pulitzer Prize winner and the former film critic of The Baltimore Sun and The Washington Post, with some 25 novels to his credit. He is also a gun and shooting enthusiast, which shows clearly in this particular book. There is a significant amount of data about the technical aspects of long-range shooting and the work of rewickering ammunition to ensure that it travels the maximum distance possible.

Bob Lee Swagger is enjoying the scenery from his front porch in Idaho when a woman unknown to him arrives to request his assistance in finding and assassinating the Middle Eastern sniper who killed her son during his deployment to Baghdad. Her account of her efforts to locate the sniper is startling, as it involves multiple trips to the Middle East after the CIA has written her off as a lunatic. While Swagger declines her request to murder the sniper, he is impressed enough with her courage and investigative skills that he offers to introduce her to a Mossad operative, where her information is likely to be of interest. Mossad is definitely interested in meeting the sniper, since they have a few scores to settle with him, as Swagger suspected, and the chase is on.

As it turns out, there is little data about the sniper; he is careful to limit himself to any kind of exposure. No law enforcement agency has a photograph or his fingerprints. He is in perpetual movement from one country to another. A night raid on a rural house where the sniper is believed to be hiding results in fragments of information about the sniper’s next target, which appears to be an unnamed prominent public figure. This intel is the impetus for immediate action, creating much of the tension in the story.

This book reminds me of The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth. Fast-paced, tightly plotted, creative characterization. It was difficult to put down. A thumping good read. Starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly.

·         Hardcover: 400 pages

·         Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; First Edition/First Printing (July 30, 2019)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0399574573

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399574573

Aubrey Hamilton ©2020

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Light It Up by Nick Petrie

Light It Up by Nick Petrie (Putnam, 2018) is the third book in the Peter Ash contemporary thriller series. Ash is a veteran of the Middle East conflicts, dealing with painful PTSD-induced claustrophobia. In this outing he is rebuilding hiking trails in Oregon, which allows him to stay outdors. One of the volunteers on the project is a Vietnam veteran named Henry. After a few months of working together, Henry asks Ash to help him out. Henry’s daughter has started a security business in Denver to protect deliveries of legal cannabis. This is a cash-only industry, leaving it especially vulnerable to robbery. Two weeks previously a shipment vanished, the cannabis, money, driver, vehicle, and security guards gone without a trace. While Henry’s daughter regroups, Henry and Ash, with a couple of other ex-veterans, will ensure the next delivery goes as planned.

Of course it doesn’t. The delivery truck is hijacked on the side of a mountain in a neatly arranged scheme that leaves Ash slack-jawed in admiration, when he isn’t trying to figure out how to escape. The hijackers, who have a considerable arsenal and don’t mind using it, seriously hurt Henry and kill one of the other guards. Nonetheless, Ash manages to extricate himself and Henry in a savage dogfight that left me wondering what could possibly happen in the remainder of the book to top it.

Back in Denver the police are very interested in Ash’s lethal escape methods, while Ash is very interested in finding out why this particular security firm has been targeted and in gaining revenge for his fallen comrades.

Some of the characters are a bit predictable: flawed protagonist and the psychopath who manages to fool most people most of the time, for instance. However, Ash is described as having the thoughtful eyes of a werewolf a week before the change, which is certainly not routine. The dishonorably discharged Marine, who is more or less blackmailed into supporting the crime boss, is a new one, though, and more sympathetic than he’s probably meant to be. Ash’s love interest is a fine twist on the traditional. June is self-sufficient and unafraid to let Ash know she wants him in her life, but on her terms. And since she carries pepper spray and a small knife with her, when she is captured by the psychopath, she doesn’t need to wait for someone to rescue her, thankyouverymuch. I really like this character.

A fascinating view into the world of legal cannabis growers and an excellent addition to the thriller genre. A galloping good story.

·         Hardcover: 400 pages

·         Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons (January 16, 2018)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0399575634

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399575631

Aubrey Hamilton ©2019

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Compelling Evidence by Steve Martini

Compelling Evidence by Steve Martini (Putnam, 1992) is the first of 15 (so far) legal thrillers featuring defense attorney Paul Madriani in Los Angeles, California. Madriani is building a solo practice after his unceremonious departure from a large corporate practice, caused by the discovery of Madriani’s affair with the much younger wife of the senior partner Ben Potter. After a year of no contact, Potter wants to meet with Madriani, as it turns out, to make sure the hatchet between them is buried. Potter is on the verge of being nominated for the U. S. Supreme Court and he wants no subtle smear to mar the exhaustive background investigation that is about to begin.

Within 24 hours after their meeting Potter is found dead, the victim of a homicide clumsily disguised as suicide. Madriani is inveigled into defending the young Mrs. Potter, uneasy about their past history which, if discovered by the media, would destroy the credibility of any defense he could prepare. Add a partner who is the default recipient of Potter’s wildly successful legal practice if Madriani loses and a judge up for re-election who is determined no appeal or hung jury will tarnish his record, along with someone in the prosecutor’s office issuing unauthorized but damaging information about the defendant to the press, and the case could not be less promising.

Although the early writing in places needed a strong editor that it didn’t get, once the legal part of the story begins, it gallops at a breakneck pace until the surprise ending. (The Kirkus reviewer said the ending was predictable but I have no idea how anyone could have guessed it. Perhaps I am gullible.) Martini has the legal profession down cold, from the set-up and operations of large corporate practices to the showboating lawyer who is always chasing his next media opportunity regardless of his client’s interests he is supposed to be protecting. The lengthy section on the psychology of jury selection is fascinating. Highly recommended to fans of Scott Turow and John Lescroart.

Hardcover: 379 pages

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (February 1, 1992)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 9780399137129

ISBN-13: 978-0399137129

Aubrey Hamilton ©2019

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: Walking Money by James O. Born

Walking Money by James O. Born (Putnam, 2004) is the first of three thrillers featuring Bill Tasker, an agent in Miami Office of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, i.e., the Florida state police. Tasker has a black mark on his record from years ago, which makes him the perfect fall guy for Tom Dooley, a crooked FBI agent who has his eye on the cash Rev. Alvin Watson and his ex-con sidekick Cole Hodges have skimmed from the fake community activist organization they front. Hodges uses a well-timed riot and associated looting to conceal the initial theft from the small bank where the stash was being hidden. He fends off Watson in his attempt to take it but loses out to Dooley, who manages to grab the bag of money.

From there the money changes hands at a dizzying pace, leaving a trail of bodies in its wake. Everyone, gangs and corrupt cops alike, is anxious to take a cut of the peripatetic $1.5 million. All the while the lead FBI agent believes that Tasker is guilty of both theft and murder, thanks to a couple of anonymous tips from Dooley. Even the lawyer Tasker eventually retains thinks he is guilty.

His ex-wife believes in his innocence but can’t take the media circus so has told Tasker to stay away from his much-loved daughters until it’s over. Tasker knows he has been set up and sees he will have to investigate the theft himself to clear his name, because no one else is, so investigate he does.

Born used his years of work experience in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to good effect here, describing internal police operations and interagency politics convincingly as the backdrop to a fast-moving story full of twists and turns and an unexpected ending.

Booklist starred review. 2005 Barry Award for Best Novel Finalist.

·         Hardcover: 272 pages

·         Publisher: Putnam Adult (June 17, 2004)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0399151699

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399151699

Aubrey Hamilton © 2018

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

Aubrey Hamilton Reviews: What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman

What You Break (Putnam, 2017) is the second book from Reed Farrel Coleman about Gus Murphy, a former Suffolk County NY police detective whose personal and professional life shattered a few years earlier. He has slowly been putting the pieces back together. He’s found a job at a third-rate hotel, where he serves as their security officer, airport van driver, and weekend nightclub bouncer. Gus has been seeing Magdalena, a bartender and an aspiring actress for awhile, when she is offered a role that will take her to Detroit for several months. Gus is trying to decide if their relationship will survive the separation when a passenger on a routine trip from the airport kicks off his internal alarm system. His suspicions are heightened when the newcomer and Slava, the hotel doorman, appear to know each other.

Worried that this new visitor to the hotel has brought trouble, Gus is watching him the next day when he and Slava drive away together. Gus follows them to a New York neighborhood and witnesses the professional execution of the man they were visiting. The ensuing police investigation leaves Gus trying to protect Slava while explaining why he was there.

In addition to this hotel-related problem, Father Bill, the long-standing friend of Gus and his family, asks Gus to take on a paying client. The grandfather of a murdered teen offers Gus considerable money to learn why the murder was committed. The police have identified the killer through unshakeable DNA evidence but no one understands how the girl crossed the path of the hardened gang member to begin with. Not sure that he can do more than the police have and disliking his potential client, Gus reluctantly agrees to look into the case.

Juggling both investigations along with his unexpected relationship problems, Gus learns that two of the men involved have committed unspeakable crimes. One is overwhelmed with guilt and the other is chillingly remorseless, providing an intriguing contrast.

Gus is an appealing character. Unlike many damaged protagonists, the wounds that Gus has suffered have healed enough to create some protective scar tissue, which is allowing him to create a new life while not forgetting the old one. Publishers Weekly starred review.

·         Hardcover: 368 pages

·         Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons; 1st edition (February 7, 2017)

·         Language: English

·         ISBN-10: 0399173048

·         ISBN-13: 978-0399173042

Aubrey Hamilton ©2018

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