โ Scribed by John Lescroart
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
Fans of John Lescroart's series hero Dismas Hardy, the thoughtful and likable San Francisco lawyer, will welcome this meditation on marriage served up as a murder mystery. In previous outings, Hardy has been a cop, a bartender, and even an assistant prosecutor, so he knows that, "Sometimes the whole truth is the last thing you want to hear." But then his wife Frannie goes to jail for refusing to tell what she knows about the husband of a murdered environmental activist. The Hardy's children are classmates of the victim's youngsters, and Dismas must confront the secrets in his own relationship that have been concealed by the all-too-familiar pressures of trying to balance work and love in the modern family. The plot, which involves oil, gas, ethanol, and gubernatorial politics, doesn't take center stage in this carefully written and deeply compelling novel; the real action is the series of revelations about the crime in question, which uncover the more interesting story of how even a good marriage can deteriorate despite--or perhaps because of--the daily work of trying to keep it going. Lescroart is in Scott Turow territory here, and he explores and conquers it with the same keen talent for describing the distance between private life and public trust. Nothing But the Truth represents a major step forward for Lescroart, who expands the mystery genre with every Dismas Hardy outing. --Jane Adams
Secrets and lies are the leitmotifs in Lescroart's 11th novel--a crisp, engaging thriller that could well be subtitled "This Time It's Personal." San Francisco lawyer Dismas Hardy has 72 hours to solve a murder that happened three weeks ago. Time is crucial because his wife, Frannie, has been jailed for contempt after refusing to reveal a secret (confided to her by her friend Ron Beaumont) to the grand jury investigating the murder of Beaumont's wife, Bree. The secret involves Ron's past--he kidnapped his own children rather than leave them in the custody of his abusive first wife, Dawn--and if Frannie spills the truth to the grand jury, Ron plans to skip town and go into hiding again with his kids. There are other secrets, too--related to Bree's powerful political position as an adviser, and rumored lover, to gubernatorial candidate Damon Kerry and as "a player in the big-money oil business." The murder investigation stalled when Carl Griffin, the detective assigned to the case, was shot to death days after Bree was killed. But throughout all the intriguing power plays, it's the close-to-home secrets affecting Hardy and his marriage that resonate most. The tug of competing loyalties and the sense that everyone has something to hide add depth and energy to a plot that has already been galvanized by Hardy's race to exonerate his wife, and solve the murder, in record time. The novel's pacing is reminiscent of classic Ross Macdonald, where a week's worth of events are condensed into a few hours. This winning thriller is the fifth starring Hardy, and it tops Lescroart's last one, The Mercy Rule, raising expectations for his next one. Agent, Barney Karpfinger. Simultaneous BBD audio. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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