Pro bono

Perry has crafted more than 20 high-octane thrillers, including The Butcher's Boy, which won an Edgar Award in 1983. Here, Perry pits a heroic lawyer, whose mission is to rescue his clients from all forms of fraud, against a highly organized and dangerous ring of criminals. They have weapons and strategy; he has only basic survival instincts and his financial savvy to protect himself. Attorney Charles Warren takes on clients (often divorced or widowed) who seek his help after noticing their accounts slowly draining away. The lawyer's motivation runs deep--his stepfather scammed his mother out of her life savings years ago. Now, a beautiful widow consults Warren about financial irregularities in her accounts. Someone steals the widow's records from Warren's car, the widow herself goes missing, and Warren is plunged into a protracted, gasp-inducing series of chase scenes and narrow escapes, pursued by very savvy assailants. Fascinating financial crimes information, delivered by an extremely likable, resourceful hero, enhances this crafty game of cat and mouse.

A lawyer who takes on a pro bono case earns his payment many times over in this lumpy but irresistible thriller. Three years after George Ellis left a party he was hosting and never returned, his wife, Vesper, notices that some of his investment accounts have been shrinking instead of growing. Suspecting fraud, she consults Charles Warren, who's been recommended by a mutual friend. Charlie turns out to be an excellent choice for several reasons. He's both an attorney and accountant, so he's good with numbers. He's hard to bully, as any number of bankers and potential assailants learn to their cost. And he has both sympathy for the victims of fraud and extensive criminal experience, which began long ago when he raced after his fleeing stepfather, Mack Stone--who'd plundered the accounts of Charlie's mother--running him off the road into a fatal crash that's never been tied to Charlie except by Andy Minkeagan and Alvin Copes, two convicts who turned up at the scene of Mack's accident ahead of the police, ran off with his financial papers, and are still bent on finding a way to cash in on their discovery. In fact, Charlie and Vesper are surrounded by so many lowlifes in pinstripes that it's a good thing they have each other. As the story goes on, though, the obstacles to Charlie's legal victories seem to fall away, and readers familiar with Perry's knack for steering his tales in new directions they never saw coming may wonder what will happen during those last hundred pages. A series of completely new threats against a completely different person, that's what. A model of suspense, though not of construction. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.