Fiction, Mystery & Crime

Mission Flats

Name: Mission Flats
Author: William Landay
ISBN: 9780345539458

by William Landay

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Overview

Before the New York Times bestselling success of Defending Jacob, William Landay wrote this critically acclaimed first novel of crime and suspense—perfect for fans of John Grisham, Scott Turow, and Dennis Lehane.

“Landay writes with eloquent intensity.”—The New York Times Book Review

By a shimmering lake in western Maine, a body lies sprawled in a deserted cabin. The dead man was an elite D.A. from Boston whose beat was the city’s toughest neighborhood: Mission Flats. For local police chief Ben Truman, investigating the murder will mean leaving his quiet home and joining a vengeful manhunt in a world of hard streets and harder bargains. The cops have zeroed in on a suspect, a ruthless predator targeted for prosecution by the murdered D.A. But Ben distrusts the Boston police—especially when he uncovers a secret history of murder and retribution stretching back twenty years. As past and present collide, as tribal loyalties threaten to lynch an innocent man—or let a guilty one go free—one thing remains certain: The most powerful revelations are yet to come.

Includes an excerpt of Defending Jacob

“A crackling debut that answers the question: Who will be the next Grisham?”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“An inventive, gripping suspense debut . . . Landay deals out pertinent details with the finesse of a poker player. . . . A rich, harrowing and delightful read.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“[Landay’s] tale is reminiscent of his fellow Beantown writer Dennis Lehane, which is a true compliment.”—Rocky Mountain News

“Waiting for a new Landay novel is like waiting for a guy from Cremona to build a violin: anxious but worth it.”—Lee Child

Winner of the CWA John Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for Best First Crime Novel

About the Author, William Landay

William Landay is the author of the New York Times bestseller Defending Jacob; The Strangler, a Los Angeles Times Favorite Crime Book of the Year; and Mission Flats, winner of the Creasey Memorial Dagger Award for Best First Crime Novel and a Barry Award nominee. A former district attorney who holds degrees from Yale and Boston College Law School, Landay lives in Boston, where he is at work on his next novel of suspense.

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Editorials

From Barnes & Noble

The Barnes & Noble Review
A fast-paced, action-packed thriller with a series of bang-up twists and surprises, William Landay's debut novel is filled with highly charged prose and memorable scenes. The author, a former prosecutor, puts his firsthand knowledge of cops, felons, and lawyers to great benefit in this story of a small-town sheriff caught up in a swirl of big-city corruption. When Ben Truman travels to Mission Flats -- the roughest corner of Boston -- in order to solve a murder, he finds an even more complex mystery that spans two decades. The inventive, elaborate plot is highly engaging, as the young, inexperienced law officer teams with a hardened cop and runs into cover-ups and conspiracies at every turn.

Mission Flats unfolds with a rapid pace that will hurl you into the story and hold you firmly in its grip. Landay knows his characters and their predicaments, and he allows authentic investigative procedure to form the essence of the exciting story. He uses a natural, deadpan, carefully controlled narrative to underscore crimes and create real suspense, and it's this ring of truth that makes the book so captivating. Mission Flats will deserves wide attention, as William Landay demonstrates that he is one of the most noteworthy new voices in the field. Tom Piccirilli

The New York Times

Tough but true: a first-time novelist has to bring something new to the table—something like the trumps that William Landay throws down in his high-stakes police procedural, Mission Flats...Landay, a former prosecutor, writes with eloquent intensity, even a sense of despair, about the no-win ethical choices that can corrupt or otherwise crush a good cop.—Marilyn Stasio

Publishers Weekly

Forced by circumstances to become a small-town cop, the protagonist of former Boston district attorney Landay's inventive, gripping suspense debut finds himself embroiled in a big-city murder investigation. Ben Truman, the young police chief in the Maine town of Versailles (pronounced "Ver-sales"), tells us early on that he gave up his pursuit of a doctorate in history at Boston University to come home and care for his Alzheimer's-stricken mother. What he doesn't reveal-at least right away-is the true story of his mother's death and his father's alcoholic rages. Landay deals out pertinent details with the finesse of a poker player, first describing Ben's discovery of the bloated body of a Boston assistant district attorney in a rental cabin. Is the discovery really accidental? Is the almost immediate arrival on the scene of a retired Boston cop named John Kelly as fortuitous as it seems at first? Can Ben really be as much of a small-town hick (the Boston cops call him "Opie") as he appears to be? Determined to stay on the case, Ben joins a crew of big-city cops and prosecutors (including Kelly's intriguing daughter) in a search through the blighted (fictional) Boston neighborhood of Mission Flats for the answer to the ADA's murder and a 10-year-old mystery. As bits of his personal history surface, Ben occasionally seems in danger of violating one of the rules of crime fiction-that the narrator shouldn't lie to us about his role in the story. But Landay's book is such a rich, harrowing and delightful read that few will complain. (Aug. 26) Forecast: Landay's strong writing and imaginative plotting give him an edge; foreign rights to Mission Flats have already been sold in eight countries. With a little marketing muscle, this could be a hit. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Another former district attorney writes a novel? At least this one has been sold in eight countries. Following a brutal murder in tiny Versailles, ME, chief of police Ben Truman follows a lead to Boston-and confronts some secrets he has tried to bury. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

A crackling debut that answers the question: Who will be the new Grisham? Young Ben Truman, who's succeeded his dad as police chief of tiny Versailles, Maine, is reminiscing about his recently deceased mom as he perfunctorily goes about the business of inspecting deserted summer cabins. When he discovers the corpse of Boston public defender Robert Danzinger in one of them, his little backwater is soon overrun by a Massachusetts contingent out to reclaim its own. Determined not to be left out of the loop, Ben, helped by retired Boston cop John Kelly and his lawyer daughter Caroline, sprints to Boston, dogs the Beantown investigators, and acquires a new mentor, crusty bend-the-rules cop Martin Gittens, whose past includes shady interference in a crack-house raid ten years before that just may tie in with Danzinger and focus on a nonexistent snitch, a setup, a couple of dead cops, and a cover-up by the DA's office. But why was Danzinger in Versailles in the first place? It's a mystery that will make Ben himself a suspect, drive him to an alliance with drug kingpin Harold Braxton, and end in more death and a double-twist that few readers will see coming, but will leave them gasping-and mourning. Stylish writing, wickedly convoluted plotting, and an insider's view of big-city jurisprudence and police accommodation. You'll barely finish this many-tentacled tale before you start clamoring for former ADA Landay's next. Agent: Alice Martell