Genre: Thriller
No spoilers.
‘False opinions are like false money, coined first of all by guilty men and thereafter circulated by honest people who perpetuate the crime.”
Falling from High Places.
The cop that arrested him and the DA are intent on bringing him down unless he plays snitch for them. Backing James into a corner, he steadily manipulates the situation to skirt just outside the line. Double crossings and betrayals leave James to believe there is more to the killing than what he first suspected. .
His enemies will not stop until he is either dead or locked up. Setting him up in a compromising situation, James must figure out once again how to get out with the help of an unlikely ally.
A last stand, a grand show of strength to expose predators will be do or die for James.
My Review.
“A rabbit-hole beckoned.”
This is sort of what it felt like when reading this book. Travelling further and further into a convoluted rabbit hole where there seems to be no end in sight except just more killings, set-ups and corruption.
He thinks of himself in the third person, referring to himself as McGettigan, while the same time he speaks to the reader in the first person. I can understand what the author is doing by creating a character that doesn’t see himself as McGettigan. However, the jumping to and fro does make it distracting at times.
There is something rather fragmented about the writing, the connection of events and characters. The scenes jump rather abruptly without explanation of how he got out of the last situation before ending up in another situation.
Throughout the story, more is revealed about his background and the case that changed his life. The characters range from middle-aged influential women, to cops with a chip on their shoulder, incompetent DAs, corrupt politicians, and all that in between.
There is a bit of tell instead of show; however, the story begins to find its footing, and I got a clearer idea of where it was heading, and the parts the characters play in the story.
As we delve deeper into the story, the plot begins to take shape. James travels to investigate who was behind the death of his billionaire friend, encountering obstacles at every turn in which he has to use subterfuge, cunning, and manipulative techniques to stay one step ahead to avoid being killed.
The suspense is created with the ‘why’ and the ‘who’.
Why has someone or some people gone to all this trouble to continually set James up? What did he stumble upon to earn him this much attention? And whom? There is an abundance of characters with potential motives. James has to slowly whittle down who it might be, having to be careful who he trusts. Power and greed getting the best of most people.
A plethora of corrupt characters, a tangled web of law enforcement, politicians and organized crime take you down an intricate rabbit hole that at times can make it difficult to keep track of who is who with so many characters introduced.
Readers that enjoy a suspenseful action plot with a diverse range of villains, and a protagonist that skirts those lines to find justice might get caught up in this read.