Review by Booklist Review
Brown's well-structured and suspenseful novels, including The Witness (1995) and Exclusive [BKL My 15 96], are phenomenally popular, and her newest, a hot-blooded tangle involving a narcotics division cop and a powerful and corrupt attorney, will surely find a slot on the best-seller lists. Brown sets her latest cleverly plotted tale in New Orleans, using the shorthand of that city's reputation for excess, sleaze, and wiliness with a minimum of fuss and even a touch of humor. It all begins in a courtroom where a slimeball named Bardo is acquitted of murdering a good cop. Bardo's attorney, Pinkie Duvall, is cartoon-evil, living in a sterile mansion where his gorgeous wife, Remy, is pretty much held prisoner, a trophy species just like the orchids he obsessively cultivates. The abused daughter of a junkie whore, Remy endures Pinkie's tyranny for the sake of her sister, an even more voluptuously lovely young woman who, by Pinkie's decree, is locked up in a convent. With all this captive beauty on the simmer, things are going to explode, and they do when the slain cop's partner, Burke Basile, seeks revenge. His plan is dangerous, murky, and as full of twists as a swamp full of gators, and, yes, it does involve a lot of risky up-close-and-personal time with Remy, who, thankfully, is not as lobotomized as she seems. --Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
New Orleans police lieutenant Burke Basile has nothing left to lose. He mistakenly shot his best friend and partner in the midst of a drug raid; now he has found his wife in the shower with another man. Hungry for justice, Basile resigns his job in order to go after the man he blames for everything: criminal defense attorney Pinkie Duvall, who is himself a master criminal. Basile's plan for exposing the slimy attorney involves masquerading as a priest in order to kidnap Pinkie's unhappy trophy wife, Remy. His ragtag squad of helpers includes a churchgoing madam, a weasly sex offender with training both as an actor and a priest and a loyal swamp rat named Dredd. In Pinkie's corner loom all of the muscle that deep pockets and deep affiliations with organized crime can buy. Still up for grabs is a GQ-style cop whose huge debt to the mob, and whose wife's beautiful face, hang in the balance, and a police captain whose ambitions for his own career just might be more important than human lives. A wild card comes into play when Basile unexpectedly falls for his captive, as Brown expertly pushes her story toward an explosive Mardi Gras conclusion. Brown's trademark mix of action and romance (Exclusive, etc.) is on display in this suspenseful, if rarely subtle, tale of revenge and corruption. 500,000 first printing; major ad/promo; Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club main selections. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
During a raid on a drug deal, a police officer is mistakenly shot by his partner through circumstances set up by one of the dealers. Burke Basile, a New Orleans detective, tries to handle the guilt over killing his fellow cop and seethes over the acquittal of the man responsible. The successful defense attorney, Pinkie Duvall, is not only criminally involved with the defendant but also with corruption that reaches into the police department. Burke is the dedicated cop who resists corruption and becomes frustrated with the ineffective justice system, almost to the point of giving up. But he is still determined to exact revenge. Jack Garrett's narration captures Burke's cynicism and Pinkie's crafty evil persona. The story follows a standard but popular formula containing romance, action, and suspense. Recommended for the author's fans and those who enjoy this genre.DCatherine Swenson, Norwich Univ., Northfield, VT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Mega-selling Brown (Exclusive, 1996, etc.) returns, this time with a tale of murder, mayhem, and the battle of the sexes set in sleazy, swampy, sweaty New Orleans. Burke Basile is a rare commodity in present-day New Orleans-- an honest cop--and when his partner (and closest friend) Kevin Stuart dies during an investigation, his life falls apart. In rapid succession, he leaves his wife Barbara (with whom he's never really been in love), quits his job at the NOPD, and vows to seek revenge on the man he blames for Kevin's death: prominent defense attorney/crime-lord Pinkie Duvall. Basile decides that the surest way to get at Pinkie, who's probably the best connected, most protected hard-core criminal in the Big Easy, is through his beautiful wife Remy, whom Pinkie rescued from a life of squalor and poverty and transformed into his own private plaything. But behind the facade, Remy has a mind of her own and a reason for tolerating her husband: As long as she's with him, she can care for the only person she's ever loved, her younger sister Flarra. After a crazy hoax--involving a child molester named Gregory who owes Basile a favor--Basile ends up in hiding with Remy, whom he's kidnapped, at his secluded, rustic cottage. Meanwhile, back in the city, Pinkie and his stooge Wayne Bardo are on a rampage, determined to find Basile and Remy and, now that Remy's been ``tainted'' by her association--even against her will--with another man, to kill them both. In isolation, Basile and Remy find that they have a lot more in common than a hatred of Pinkie, and by the time the situation comes to its inevitable conclusion, plenty of heads have rolled. No surprises here, but Brown's readers will find this Mardi Gras extravaganza more than satisfying. (First printing of 500,000; Literary Guild main selection/Doubleday Book Club selection)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
