Dialogues of a Crime by John Manos - book review

Dialogues of a Crime
Author:  John Manos
Published:  July 2013
Publisher:  Amika Press
Pages: 300

Source:  A complimentary advance reader's copy was provided for the purpose of this review.  Receipt thereof bore no influence over this reviewers opinion nor this review.

In this crime drama, Michael Pollitz must decide whether to protect the mobster who has protected him.

When Mike, a college student in 1972 Illinois, is arrested on drug charges, his father insists he use a public defender. His childhood friend’s father, Dom Calabria, head of the Outfit in Chicago, wants to help Mike by providing a first-rate lawyer, but Mike goes with his father’s wishes. The outcome is a plea bargain for a short stay in Astoria Adult Correctional Facility—but after he’s brutally beaten and raped by three inmates, Mike spends most of his sentence in the infirmary. He doesn’t give up his assailants’ names but threatens their lives right before he’s set to be released. When Mike is picked up by the head of the mob, people notice.

Flash forward to 1994, when Detective Larry Klinger begins investigating the murders of two former Astoria inmates who were violently killed shortly after being released. An informant—the third man who beat Mike—tells Klinger that the murders were committed by Calabria, the kingpin whom Klinger would like to see taken down. Klinger investigates, coming in contact with Mike, and the two form a friendship. When Klinger realizes that Mike will never give up Calabria, he begins to wonder whether it’s even worth investigating the murders of such evil men.

Purchase Links

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My Thoughts:

How deep does loyalty lie?  Dialogues of a Crime is a story about a young college student, Michael, who in 1972 gets arrested as an accessory to the sale of drugs.  It gets worse for Michael as his father refuses to allow Michael to accept the help of his best friend's father who is in the mafia.  Unfortunately, Michael goes to a medium security prison where he is assaulted and emotionally scarred for life.  It's not unheard of in prisons but it certainly isn't pleasant reading.

Years later an investigation into the mafia, particularly into Michael's best friend's father and his particular "ring," brings the now advertising executive back in contact with the police. Friendship, relationships, loyalty and revenge are the strong themes in Dialogues of a Crime. In exploring the past that Michael would rather forget, the ties of relationships are explored. The dialogues in this novel reveal emotions, hurt, and loyalty and are well-written.  It is through these dialogues the reader really comes to understand Michael.  He really experienced the worst one can imagine a fellow human being can endure and the reader is sure to side with him, regardless of justice, however defined.

Dialogues of a Crime makes you question your ideas on justice.  While I didn't enjoy the prison experience, I did find the investigation of the mafia interesting.  I enjoy crime dramas, for the "whodunit" aspect and love a good mystery, which is why I decided to read Dialogues of a Crime.  It's not quite what I expected in that comparison but if you enjoy investigations of the legal system and justice with a main focus on the mafia, you will find Dialogues of a Crime an interesting novel and, like me, you will likely be pulling for Michael, the law be damned.

John K. Manos was a magazine editor in Chicago for 20 years. Since 2001 he has earned his living as a writer, editor, and occasional musician. He is a graduate of Knox College. Dialogues of a Crime is his first novel.

The Contractors by Harry Hunsicker (book review)

The Contractors
Author:  Harry Hunsicker
Published:  February 4, 2014
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Pages: 514
Genre:  Mystery/thriller; crime drama
Edition: paperback ARC
Source:  A complimentary copy was provided by TLC Book Tours and the publisher in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

In THE CONTRACTORS (Thomas & Mercer; February 4, 2014), acclaimed thriller writer Hunsicker turns his attention to the shadowy world of private military contractors and the hypocrisies of the War on Drugs, delivering a heart-pounding, complex standalone thriller in the vein of James Ellroy’s Underworld U.S.A. series.

Disgraced ex-Dallas PD officer Jon Cantrell carries a DEA badge, but he’s not a federal agent. Rather, he works for a private contracting company, busting drug shipments along the U.S.-Mexico border for commission. When Cantrell and his partner-slash-lover Piper confiscate the wrong load, they find themselves in possession of a star witness in an upcoming cartel trial, a mysterious piece of hotly sought after scanning equipment, and the ire of the largest criminal cartel in the Americas.

To clear things up and collect their paycheck, all they need to do is deliver the witness, Eva Rodriguez, to the US attorney across the state in Marfa. Except Eva’s got ideas – and pursuers – of her own, and the trio soon find themselves in the crosshairs of an all-out war between the cartel, a group of competing contractors, and a corrupt Dallas police officer with everything to lose.

A fast-paced, action-packed thrill ride into the strange borderlands of the modern global drug trade, THE CONTRACTORS will have you hooked until the explosive final act.

My Thoughts:

The Contractors is a weighty novel and not just due to its lengthy 514 pages.  Dealing with government corruption, drug smuggling, prostitution and human trafficking; it's a heavy hitter.  

Eva Rodriguez has a price on her head.  A drug cartel wants her dead, private contractors including Jon and Piper hunt her for a price, and those you'd expect to protect her may be too corrupted to do so.  

The novel begins with Jon facing a gun aimed at him by his partner, a fellow contractor with whom he'd been working and having a day to day long-running affair.  Before the reader can question what went wrong, or if/why Piper changed alliances; we are transported to the beginning of their relationship to a time when both are private contractors vying for the same cut in delivering a young girl captive in a brothel.  They join alliances, after all two heads and guns are better than one in the war against drug and girl running, and they make a fabulous team.

The story is a quick-paced action packed novel with virtually no down time but that isn't to say there's no character nor plot development because there is.  The 514 pages whirl past in a stream of guns blazing, captures and bad guys with no place to rest.  It feels like an action packed crime drama has released within your very hands and the book quickly runs from A to B, leaving the reader breathless with the anticipation and velocity of it all.  When done, you close the book and catch your breath.  So that's what it's like fighting a drug cartel....in the heat of Texas.....thinking your back is covered but perhaps you're wrong....

For the crime drama fan, The Contractors definitely has a lot to offer.  Why watch it on tv when you can read it!

Harry Hunsicker is the former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America and the author of three previous novels, crime thrillers set in Texas. His debut novel, Still River, was nominated for a Shamus Award by the Private Eye Writers of America. His short fiction has been nominated for the Thriller Award by the International Thriller Writers and selected for inclusion in The Best American Mystery Stories of 2011, edited by Otto Penzler and Harlan Coben. Hunsicker lives in Dallas, a fourth-generation native of the city. When not writing, he works as a commercial real estate appraiser and an occasional speaker on the creative process.

Amazon.com:  http://www.amazon.com/The-Contractors-Harry-Hunsicker/dp/1477808728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384876602&sr=8-1&keywords=the+contractors+harry+hunsicker

Author's website:  http://harryhunsicker.com

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/harryhunsickerwriter

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/harryhunsicker

Plain Truth

Author:  Jodi Picoult

Published by Washington Square Press a Division of Simon and Schuster, Inc.

Pages:  405

Reader's Group Discussion Included

"The discovery of a dead infant in an Amish barn shakes Lancaster Country to its core.  But the police investigation leads to a more shocking disclosure; circumstantial evidence suggests that eighteen-year-old Katie Fisher, an unmarried Amish woman believed to be the newborn's mother, took the child's life.  When Ellie Hathaway, a disillusioned big-city attorney, comes to Paradise, Pennsylvania, to defend Katie, two cultures collide-and for the first time in her high-profile career, Ellie faces a system of justice very different from her own.  Delving deep inside the world of those who live "plain", Ellie must find a way to reach Katie on her terms.  And as she unravels a tangled murder case, Ellie also looks deep within-to confront her own fears and desires when a man from her past re-enters her life."  (from the back cover of Plain Truth)

Well-written and captivating, this novel is the first of Jodi Picoult's that I have read.  Plain Truth holds your attention, draws the reader in and is hard to put down.  The characters are well-developed, and the lifestyle and culture of the Amish are well-portrayed.  The author did, after all, spend a week living with an Amish family, participating in chores and living as they do.  Not easily forgotten, this novel may enlist the reader in a quest to simplify their own lives and question their perspectives.  Not a bad thing.

Rated 3.5/5

*As administrator of a local Christian book club, I read this as a possible book of the month.  Though the author does an excellent job of drawing the reader in, I was not impressed with the explicit sex included in a couple areas within this novel.  As such, based upon language and sexual content, we cannot include this as a suggested read for discussion. 

Does popular fiction need to bridge the gap between moral and immoral to be popular? Perhaps books should have a labelling system similar to that of movies.  PG, R, General based upon content.  It would make things simpler when selecting books for discussion.  This reader intends to read another of Jodi Picoult's novels, My Sister's Keeper.  Hopefully the content will be agreeable for our group as a future read.