643 kb

5 stars

A fantastic novel.

In this book, we meet Charlie Franklin. Charlie is a lawyer who no longer practices. He is now a “fixer.” He makes trouble that people get into go away. He has all kinds of clients: ordinary people, politicians, mobsters and more.

Charlie has recently been contacted by a newly minted Cardinal Maroney. Why? It seems the Cardinal needs someone to pick up a package for him. He has a long list of “don’ts” for Charlie. Against his better instincts, Charlie takes the case.

When he arrives in NewYork, he discovers his contact is a blond femme fatale. Wow!

Returning to the Cardinal, Charlie thinks his job is done. But, the Cardinal is very angry and explodes when he discovers the package is not what he requested. The Cardinal turns out to be a hot tempered and not very nice guy. He sends for Charlie again, all the while beginning to have doubts not only about Charlie, but also about his assistant.

What follows is an intense drama. Suspicions, double crosses and deceptions are played out between the major players in this story: the Cardinal, Charlie and his “assistants” Rita and Pete, the mob and some shadowy men whose intent remains unknown. The story becomes complicated, but oh, so delicious.

The Cardinal has evil in his heart.

The writing in this book is superb. The plot is without holes. The reader gets to know all of the characters very well. Their descriptions are so well drawn that I felt I could visualize them. I very much liked this novel and would recommend it to anyone who likes the mystery or adventure genre.

I want to thank NetGalley and Black Rose Writing for forwarding to me a copy of this great book for me to read, enjoy and review. The opinions expressed in this review are solely my own.

Complicated story of a Catholic Church Cardinal with aspirations of a greater office. A Cleveland lawyer is brought in by the Cardinal to work as a courier. When the first and second deliveries don’t go as planned, the plot gets intricately more complicated involving rich families, various mob organizations, and various Church officials. Everything gets tied up tightly in the end.