Bannerman's Law

Bannerman #3

by John R. Maxim

When Los Angeles film studen Lisa Benedict is murdered after accidentally stumbling upon the terrible truth about Sur La Mer, an insane asylum for celebrities, her sister, Carla, one of Paul Bannerman's most efficient assassins, pursues her own quest for revenge against her sister's killers. Reprint.

Genres: Thriller, Fiction, Espionage, Mystery, Crime

512 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1991

About the author

John R. Maxim was born in Greenwich Village, NYC, educated at NY Jesuit Schools (Xavier and Fordham) played all the street sports and most team sports.
Comes from a family of cops and a few Feds. After school, took up flying, skydiving and dirt-track stock car racing until the Military decided it could do without him. Then went into marketing and advertising. Several awards. Rose to Senior VP at major New York Advertising agencies. Work involved a great deal of international travel. Major hobby back then was sailing.
Always wanted to write, however, and, one night on the bar car, decided to give it a year, succeed or fail. Sold first novel at age 41. Wrote 12 more plus one non-fiction, averaging a year and a half each. Translated into ten languages. Several were optioned for film or TV. Still waiting.
Took up skiing. Many trips to Switzerland and Colorado. With the kids gone, sold our Connecticut house and moved to Hilton Head Island with his beautiful wife, Christine, herself a champion sailor.

Reviews

[Linda Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book Three of the Bannerman series may be my favorite one. Instead of the usual locales of Europe or Westport, Connecticut this one moves to California. Most of the regular cast is there, but the story particularly features the one who is arguably the most unpredictable of the crew - Carla Benedict. And this book humanizes the dangerous, ticking time-bomb that is Carla. It turns out that Carla has family: the father she is estranged from and the younger sister whom she adores. Lisa is a film student working on her master's degree and focusing on the transition from silent movies to talkies. In her research, she stumbles upon an insane asylum where many of those failed film stars sought refuge. Lisa decides to investigate the place in the hope of actually talking to any who might still be alive. But Sur La Mer is more than it appears on the surface and her snooping around gets Lisa killed. Big mistake. A grief-stricken and enraged Carla flies to the West Coast to discover what happened and enact her revenge. Bannerman and many of his most loyal people follow with the dual purpose of damage control and attending the funeral. As usual, the plot thickens. It includes a serial killer who has been preying on college coeds, a Nazi war criminal hiding in plain sight with a new identity and various assorted mobsters and drug dealers. The body count is high. John R. Maxim ramps up the tension so much that I often had to put Bannerman's Law down to catch my breath. Hollywood missed a great opportunity by not turning these books into movies.

[Muwaffaq Salti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good plot and well written but a little meandering at times. Could have used some sharper editing for 5 stars

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed that this book was supposed to be about Carla's revenge for the murder of her sister and then she does basically nothing except makes friends with a serial killer. And Bannerman seems like he just doesn't want to step on anyone's toes. I thought Carla would be unleashed for this one. There was really no revenge at all. And at times it seemed more of a comedy.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Also excellent. Reading the next one now.