Trojan Horse (David Lender)

Trojan Horse is one of those “okay” novels that has its moments, but in the long run, isn’t quite as satisfying as the author probably intended.

Daniel Youngblood, a widowed investment banker specializing in oil and gas, gets into an OPEC deal with a Saudi prince – a deal that promises a potential profit of $25 million.

He meets the beguiling Lydia Fauchert, a European fashion photographer who proves to be an enigma. Just who is she? Lydia owns many passports, has used many aliases. It turns out that she is really a CIA spy, that she and Prince Yassar have a shared history.

Long, multi-chapter flashbacks to fill us in on that history and just who and what Sasha is – two divergent yet intertwined stories, two decades apart, moving inexorably together. We eventually learn that Lydia and Sasha (and ultimately Alica, a computer hacker) are one and the same. This isn’t a spoiler, as it was apparent early on that they were the same woman.

As the deal nears fruition, a man who calls himself Habib – American-born, CIA trained – is making his own deal with Sheik Mohammed Muqtada bin Abdur, religious leader of the al-Mujari, as well as a Shiite religious leader and fomenter of unrest.

The CIA, the British Secret Service, and the Israeli Mossad are ever in the background, watching over Lydia/Sasha and Daniel. Despite a traitorous attempt to help Sheik bin Abdur, the good guys eventually uncover a plot that could bring the oil industry to its knees.

Trojan Horse is full of irritating editorial faux pas:

* Misspelling “subtlety” as subtelty.

* Using “Mon cheri“ instead of “Mon cher,” the correct French phrase when a woman is speaking to a man. This is a huge error that erodes any knowledgeable reader’s belief that the author knows what he’s writing about.

* Foisting incredulousness upon us when he means “incredulity.”

* “… two petits fors on his desert plate” should be “two petits fours on his dessert plate.”

* Using the incorrect homonym “taught“ when he obviously meant “taut.”

* Starting a sentence with “Were acting“ when it should be “We’re acting.”

* Using incorrect gender in the phrase, “As she spun,” when it should be “As he spun.”

 

 

The climax of Trojan Horse leaves a lot to be desired … it feels as though Lender was late for a date, whipped out the final chapters and dropped it in the mailbox.

Trojan Horse (2011)

David Lender

Brindle Publishing ($14.99 paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-0615448756

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lincoln Lawyer (Michael Connelly)

Recently released as a movie starring Matthew McConaughey, The Lincoln Lawyer is about Mickey Haller, a defense attorney who operates out of his Lincoln Town Car. Reviled as a sleazy lawyer by the cops, Haller finds clients by paying off bail bondsmen for referrals.

His “staff” includes Earl Biggs, who drives him around in his Lincoln, working off a fee he owns Haller; Lorna Taylor, one of his ex-wives who serves as his case manager, bookkeeper and gatekeeper; and Raul Levin, investigator.

Haller’s newest client, Louis Ross Roulet, is the son Mrs. Mary Alice Windsor, owner of a thriving real estate business. He’s been accused of assault and attempted murder of a young prostitute. Prosecuting the case is Margaret “Maggie McFierce” McPherson, who is obliged to step down because she’s also one of Haller’s ex-wives. She’s replaced by Ted Minton, a young prosecutor trying his case.

Everything seems to point to Roulet’s innocence, possibly an early wrap up and dismissal. And then, a monkey wrench comes clattering in out of the blue. And then another.

It’s interesting that both his ex-wives still feel affection for him and are among his best friends.

But something clicks in Haller’s mind – the victim, Reggie Campo, reminds him of another victim, Martha Renteria and a murder case he had defended, a case where he convinced an innocent man to accept a long jail sentence in order to avoid the death penalty.

The case goes to trial in a nicely worded recitation of the proceedings by author Connelly. The verdict isn’t quite what you would expect.

I have only one criticism of The Lincoln Lawyer. Michael Connelly mistakenly refers to all of the real estate agents as “realtors” with a small “r.” During my career as a newspaper reporter, I learned early that only members of the National Association of Realtors can call themselves “Realtors.” And the word is always capitalized.

It’s small, but it’s important to be precise. But I can look past that to a certain degree. After all, I sure did enjoy the story.

The Lincoln Lawyer (2005)

Michael Connelly

Little, Brown and Company ($13.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0316734936

Redemption (Laurel Dewey)

Jane Perry, the protagonist in Laurel Dewey’s previous novel, Protector, has resigned from the Denver Police Department and now operates independently as a private investigator.

Now a gourmet coffee addict, the result of sobering up, she reluctantly takes on a case involving the disappearance of 12-year-old Charlotte Walker in Oakhurst, California. Her client? Katharine Clark (aka Kit C.), a “New Age hippie” who is convinced the abductor is the same man who raped and killed her 14-year-old daughter years ago.

Kit C. aggravates the hell out of Perry (and me too, truthfully), prying her wacky beliefs into Perry’s habitual routines, with an “I know what’s good for you” attitude.

It’s strange how a little spiritual how “signs” (animal totems – snake, eagle, crow, raven, hummingbird, hawk) come together, making it look as though Jane Perry was destined to take on the investigation, to take the case that will culminate in a redemption – the saving of various souls from Lucifer’s clutches..

Perry’s prime suspect, Lou Peters, now 33, is out of prison and in Oakhurst. As she tracks him down, she’s side-tracked a few times. Clinton Fredericks, a “Gonzo” crime profiler and author, is analyzing the Charlotte Walker case and keeps getting in the way. A mysterious woman caller offers help; Fundamentalist beliefs hamper her investigation.

Not until a missing daughter fills in some blanks does everything finally come together.

There are problems with the Kindle edition – both in formatting and an occasional word-selection error – “site” instead of “sight,” “bared” instead of “bore” when the obvious intention is to indicate something being carried, and using “between she and …” instead of “between herself and …” (using the subjective pronoun instead of the correct objective pronoun). The word-selection errors are amateurish and unforgivable.

Redemption (2009)

Laurel Dewey

The Story Plant ($24.95 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0981608754

Wet Desert, a Novel (Gary Hansen)

Gary Hansen’s very first effort at writing a novel resulted in Wet Desert, inspired by an article in National Geographic about the Colorado River and man’s attempt to manage the system.

In his post-notes, Hansen reveals that his work was vetted by members of a college-level writing class. That’s why it surprises me that occasionally, especially in the early chapters, there’s too much detail and description of what people are doing. Also, too many incorrect homophones have slipped through, resulting in the incorrect choice of similar-sounding words.

Be that as it may, he’s written a pretty good story. The protagonist, Grant Stevens, is manager of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation – the guys who build dams. Disappointed that he’s been bumped from attending a conference in Kenya and will miss hobnobbing with the world’s authorities on dams, Grant instead finds himself in charge of a situation.

An environmental terrorist has planted a bomb in the 600-foot high Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Arizona. And it goes off, sending billions of gallons of water pouring down the Grand Canyon from Lake Powell.

Grant hop-scotches downstream to Hoover Dam, then Davis Dam … staying one jump ahead of the surging water as it threatens one dam after another, attempting to mitigate the damage through some pretty controversial actions. His journey heads farther and farther south, ending with a pursuit of the terrorist in Mexico.

As that adventure is going on, author Hansen interjects with stories of house boaters, hikers, fishermen, nudists, all of whom are faced with their own terror as the disaster looms then overwhelms them.

Wet Desert is a pretty good first novel, available in paperback or (better yet) in a Kindle ebook edition.

Wet Desert, a Novel (2007)

Gary Hansen

Hole Shot Press ($14.95 trade paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-0979352102

Hell’s Corner (David Baldacci)

When former CIA assassin Oliver Stone (fka John Carr) was asked by President James Brennan to tackle Mexican drug cartels controlled by Russian government, with his past status swept clean and his name cleared, he thought he’d take a walk in Lafayette Park the night before leaving.

Maybe he shouldn’t have done that. Because while he’s there, in the area near the White House nicknamed Hell’s Corner, he watches four others who were there in the dead of night: a man who looks like a gang member, a man in a suit, an overweight jogger, and a woman.

A few seconds later, the idyllic setting blows up in his face – gunfire strafes the ground, and a tree blows up. Stone wakes up in a hospital. Looks like his trip south of the border is put on hold as he’s asked to solve the Hell’s Corner case with Mary Chapman of British M-16 (England’s equivalent of the FBI).

The more he discovers, the more complicated and intriguing the case becomes. Was there really a connection between the gunfire and the tree bomb? Stone and Chapman know they’re headed right direction when people start dying. Stone’s ass ends up in a sling when his mistakes turn all against him. Is there a traitor amongst the good guys?

Cue the heralding trumpets, and thank God for the Camel Club, which rises to the occasion and enters the fray. And then … as pieces start to fit together, things started getting hairier and hairier, culminating in a shoot-out inside Murder Mountain.

David Baldacci has done it again, putting together a masterpiece of a thriller.

Hell’s Corner (2010)

David Baldacci

Grand Central Publishing (27.99 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0446195522

The General’s Daughter (Nelson DeMille)

Capt. Ann Campbell was impressive – West Point graduate, noted authority on psychological warfare, daughter of an Army general. The thing is, Capt. Campbell is also dead – raped and murdered while on guard duty at Ft. Hadley, Georgia.

Warrant Officer Paul Brenner of the Army Criminal Investigations Division (CID) and Cynthia Sunhill, a CID rape counselor and investigator, just happen to be at Ft. Handley and are ordered to investigate the crime.

Their teaming together is a little awkward, for Brenner and Sunhill were former lovers while serving in Brussels. And it would be kind to say that their relationship there ended badly. But, be that as it may, they are thrust together and after some mandatory bantering, are able to work together professionally.

As the details mount up and forensic clues begin to surface, their conversations and suppositions paint several possible pictures of what happened and who was involved. Their strategy is to move fast before they encounter interference and the stonewalling starts. Hit ‘em hard and hit ‘em fast.

Capt. Campbell, it appears, was not all that wholesome. In fact, she had a hidden side to her, one that would bring shame upon the base and the U.S. Army if it were ever brought to light. Because of this, Brenner and Sunhill experience pressure from within and without to make an arrest before the FBI steps in.

Principal suspects emerge, but the evidence just doesn’t pan out each time. Who killed her? Could it have been her father? Or her boss, the head of psy-ops? Was it the post adjutant, or maybe even the middle-aged sergeant who discovered her body? Could it have been the son of the local police chief?

Perhaps the best-known work of author Nelson DeMille, The General’s Daughter became a movie starring John Travolta and Madeleine Stowe in 1999. DeMille’s gripping style fills the imagination with details and fills the reader’s heart with compassion tinged by more than just a sprinkling of excitement.

This book is hard to put down. It’s crime investigation at its best.

The General’s Daughter (1993)

Nelson DeMille

Grand Central Publishing ($41.00 list)

ISBN-13: 978-0446513067