THE RULE OF LAW

4 stars out of 5

In the years I've been posting book reviews online, I've read just two of the author's 18 books featuring attorney Dismas Hardy: "Poison" last year, and "Fatal" in 2017 - and loved them both. This one's very good as well, but I have to say I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the other two. I suspect it's because, as the author notes in the acknowledgements, his intent was to "tie up" loose ends from past books rather than conjure up new plots. And while I had no problem following what was happening even though some of those ends didn't ring any familiarity bells for me (another way of saying this book stands alone well), the parts related to years-earlier events just didn't seem quite as interesting to me than the current goings-on.

On the other hand, the whole gang is back together (well, except for a couple who bit the dust in previous happenings) and Dismas is trying to put the old law firm back together again. On the other side of the fence is new District Attorney, one who clearly has a beef with Dismas and his crew. Noteworthy to me, by the way, is that readers learn early on who the bad guys and gals are and what they've done - then they get to follow along as the Hardy boys and girls figure out what's going on. 

At the beginning, the firm's longtime, ultra-loyal secretary, Phyllis McGowan, suddenly takes off work for several days with no explanation. When she returns, she remains tight-lipped - until, out of the blue, the police rush through the door with a warrant for her arrest in connection with the murder of a man who had made a nice living smuggling women into the United States. Needless to say, Dismas becomes her attorney of record, and he quickly learns there's much more to his secretary (and her just-out-of-prison brother) than he ever thought possible.

Making an example out of Dismas's secretary, though, is only the tip of the iceberg for the new D.A., who is determined to dig up dirt on that years-earlier case that will take down Dismas and his law partners once and for all. The ending didn't come as a total surprise to me, but it did wrap things up and clear the decks for a whole new chapter to begin next time around.

And to be sure, I'm eager to read it. Meantime, many thanks to the publisher, via NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review this one. Good job!

The Rule of Law by John Lescroart (Atria Books, January 2019); 337 pp.