The Missing Piece by John Lescroart

About the Book:

No one mourned when San Francisco DA Wes Farrell put Paul Riley in prison eleven years ago for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. And no one is particularly happy to see him again when he’s released after The Exoneration Initiative uncovered evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. In fact, Riley soon turns up murdered, surrounded by the loot from his latest scam. But if Riley was really innocent all along, who wanted him dead?

To the cops, it’s straightforward: the still-grieving father of Riley’s dead girlfriend killed the former prisoner. Farrell, now out of politics and practicing law with master attorney Dismas Hardy, agrees to represent the defendant, Doug Rush—and is left in the dust when Rush suddenly vanishes. At a loss, Farrell and Hardy ask PI Abe Glitsky to track down the potentially lethal defendant. The search takes Glitsky through an investigative hall of mirrors populated by wounded parents, crooked cops, cheating spouses, and single-minded vigilantes. As Glitsky embraces and then discards one enticing theory after another, the truth seems to recede ever farther. So far that he begins to question his own moral compass in this “superb thriller from a veteran crime writer” (Jeffrey Deaver, New York Times bestselling author) that you’ll savor to the last word.

My Review:

I have mixed feelings about this novel. It may well be the first I have ever read by Lescroart. The characters are all new to me and it was obvious the people in the legal office have a long history. That a law office would spend time investigating the murder of a client seemed a bit far fetched.

I found it to be slow and kind of all over the place. Glitzky, a retired police detective and the investigator for the attorneys, looks at possible killers in a number of areas. It was like he was grasping at straws, trying to find connections and reasons where there might be none. I felt as one of the characters did late in the novel, voicing his frustration that Glitsky thinks he has solved the murder for about the hundredth time. (3751/4166) Glitsky is a nice enough guy but the wandering investigative work was not a compelling force to make me engaged in the novel. I did finish the book but was not impressed with it enough to read earlier ones in the series. I did appreciate learning a bit about groups looking into wrongful convictions.

My rating: 3/5 stars.

 

About the Author:

John Lescroart is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine previous novels, including the The Rule of Law, Poison, and Fatal. His books have sold more than ten million copies and have been translated into twenty-two languages. He lives in Northern California. Photo: Andy Wallace

Simon and Schuster, 304 pages.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

(My star ratings: 5-I love it, 4-I like it, 3-It's OK, 2-I don't like it, 1-I hate it.)