The
appeal for me is the same as it ever was. Playing a child’s game for money can
be hard on your self-respect. Even now, I’m still not a doctor or a diplomat,
but I’m more than I was. I’m more than a guy on a bench cracking seeds, waiting
for a lefty to bat in the eighth.
God
help me if a man’s not entitled to that. (Page 5)
Johnny Adcock is 35 and for more than a decade he
has a secondary career to fall back on when his playing days are over. Major
League Baseball these days is primarily made up of situational players who come
in and out for this situation or that. Johnny Adcock is one of those guys as he
has a very simple job as “the setup man.” He is the guy who comes in during the
eighth inning to pitch to one guy, usually a lefty, in a pressure situation
with men on base to get the out. If he
does his job right in getting the out and preserving the potential win, the closer
comes in to deal with the final few batters and finish the game on a winning
note. Being 35 Adcock knows his playing days are numbered and that the money,
1.5 million a year, is really good for the amount of work he has to do. He has
a lot of idle time to fill when he isn’t on the field and his secondary career
is a great fit. It kind of came about by accident, but he really enjoys
moonlighting as a private detective. Ball players frequently need a private
detective and the word among his fellow players is out about Johnny and his
second career.
Johnny plays for “The Bay Dogs of San Jose” and the backup
catcher is a guy named Frankie Herrera. Frankie has a big problem regarding his
wife and does not want it getting out. Adcock is discrete, but telling him and
letting him see the evidence is very hard on Frankie. Way back in the day
before they were married, Maria, was a stripper in the clubs. When money was really
short she took the next logical step and made some very adult movies. One of
the videos is now up on a free porn site on the internet. If Frankie and his wife
Maria didn’t have two twin boys who will be five in the fall it might not
matter so much. But, they do and Frankie does not want to the kids to ever
learn what their mom did long ago.
Somebody sent the site link to Frankie’s cellphone
as proof the video was out there on the internet. So far there has not been an
actual request for money, but the intent is pretty clear to Frankie and his
wife as well as Johnny. If Frankie wants Johnny’s help the first step is to
hand the cell phone over to Adcock for as long as he needs it. Adcock will need
to watch the video so that he can start trying to figure out if this is, as Adcock
suspects, an extortion/black mail attempt. It seems like the typical “rip the
ball player off” type case that Johnny has seen quite a few times before. But,
there is nothing typical about this one as things very quickly escalate with a
murder and more.
Those who are baseball fans will really enjoy The
Setup Man as there are numerous references to living and past players,
teams, and more. Baseball becomes a significant secondary character in the book
while never burying the main storyline of the mystery. Billed as a thriller by
the publisher, the book is more of a mystery that quickly expands in depth as
the tale featuring plenty of interesting characters, a variety of detailed
settings, and lots of complexity unfolds. The various storylines combine
together in The Setup Man making it a read that keeps the reader solidly
entertained from start to finish.
The
Setup Man
T.
T. Monday (aka Nick Taylor)
Vintage
Crime/Black Lizard (Doubleday)
March
2014
ISBN#
978-0-385-53845-9
Hardback
(e-book, audio, and paperback also available)
274
Pages
$24.99
Material was picked up to read and review via the
Plano Public Library System because Kaye Gorge wrote about it last month in one
of her “Monday With Kaye” review
segments.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2015
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