Detective Fiction, Games & Hobbies - Fiction, Sports - Fiction, Crime Fiction
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Overview
Boston attorney Brady Coyne has a generally placid life with a nice house, a stable relationship, and the occasional fishing trip with old friends. But one balmy June evening that quiet life begins to fall apart after Brady receives a frantic call from the son of his friend and client Dalton Lancaster. Dalt is in the emergency room, having been severely beaten by a group of thugs who warned him that he has a week to pay off his debt. Even worse, the message seems to have come from Paulie Russo, the head of the Boston mob. It turns out that it isn't actually Dalt's debt, but his son Robert's, who seems to have inherited his father's gambling addiction. When Brady tries to intercede for the family, Russo's goons let him know he is holding Brady responsible for his client's obligation. Then Robert disappears and no one seems to know whether he's fled for his life or been murdered - until the ransom demand arrives.With his personal life undergoing its own drastic upheaval, Brady is trying to rescue Robert, and himself, from a rapidly escalating situation before it becomes deadly for all concerned.
Synopsis
Boston attorney Brady Coyne has a generally placid life with a nice house, a stable relationship, and the occasional fishing trip with old friends. But one balmy June evening, that quiet life begins to fall apart after Brady receives a frantic phone call from his friend and client Dalton Lancaster. Dalt is in the emergency room, having been severely beaten by a group of thugs who warned him that he has a week to pay off his debt. Even worse, the message comes directly from Paulie Russo, the head of the Boston mob. Dalt swears he has no such debt, but when Brady tries to intercede, Russo lets him know he is holding Brady responsible for his client's obligation. Then Dalt disappears and no one seems to know whether he's fled for his life or been murdered until the ransom demand arrives. While Brady tries to rescue Dalt, and himself, from the escalating situation, his live-in girlfriend Evie buys a one-way ticket to California to care for her dying father, leaving Brady to wonder when or if she will return.Editorials
Kirkus Reviews
Protecting his clients, however undeserving, brings lawyer Brady Coyne (Out Cold, 2006, etc.) up against Boston's Russo mob once more. The three guys who beat up Dalton Lancaster didn't say they were sent by Vincent Russo to give the compulsive gambler a warning. But Brady, Dalton's old law-school roommate, goes to talk to the North End crime boss, figuring that if Russo didn't order the smackdown, he knows who did. A couple of days later, three thugs grab Brady from a parking garage and haul him off to see Paulie Russo, Vinnie's heir apparent. The debt, it turns out, is owed not by Dalton but by his son Robert, who seems to have inherited both his dad's addiction to poker and his lousy luck. What Russo wants is not money but the sympathetic ear of Robert's grandma, Superior Court Judge Adrienne Lancaster, who's set to hear a case involving Russo interests. Tipped off by Brady, Her Honor recuses herself. Next thing you know, she receives a CD showing Robert bound in duct tape and a note demanding $250,000-to be delivered by none other than Brady Coyne. So Brady goes home to drink beer and wait for two calls: one from the kidnappers, one from his girlfriend Eve, who's abandoned her longtime lover to share her terminally ill father's last months. Sometimes rhapsodic, sometimes redundant descriptions stretch a thimbleful of plot into a six-pack. Agent: Fred Morris/Jed Mattes Inc.From the Publisher
"Nearly every flowing phrase of MUSCLE MEMORY impels the story or deepens the character, and, quite often, both. Only a few writers of crime fiction have managed to generate prose this leanly poetic in the service of their hard-boiled stories. Tapply does it all the time."—Boston GlobeBook Details
Published
December 28, 2007
Publisher
Gale Group
Pages
400
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9781410402813