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Body Politic: A Griffin Dowell Suspense Novel
Griffin Dowell, lawyer for the rich and powerful in Washington, D.C., has always looked the other way when it came to shady dealings. But when a client friend is murdered and Griffin's own life threatened, he reconsiders his position. Meanwhile, Avraham Hegel--a top stem cell researcher and political ally of the president's wife--has disappeared. All that remains is a mysterious note, a key to an airport locker, and a plastic doll. When his assistant discovers people will kill for what she now possesses, she must learn why before it's too late. A superbly-crafted thriller in the Grisham style, Body Politic is book one in the Griffin Dowell suspense mystery series.
400 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 2, 2022
I enjoyed this very much. If you like crime thrillers with a conspiracy attached you’ll love this.
January 15, 2025
Did not finish book. Did not like it.
July 14, 2014
I took this book along to read aloud to my husband on an extended road trip. We found it thoroughly captivated our interest from its earliest chapters and was hard to put down.
The prologue was a bit tough to follow. It was written from several different points of view, with almost no cues to tell you so, that made it hard to understand. The rest of the book was much better.
This story reads something like a Grisham novel, with the mounting suspense and unfolding political intrigue. The subject was primarily the use of supposedly aborted children as sources of black-market body parts. Using a carefully hidden, top-secret facility, an illegal corporation was cultivating "conceptuses" and harvesting their organs--all with the support of some very wealthy and influential individuals. The self-justification by some of the antagonists was not unlike what we see in previous and current administrations. Their abuses of power are not hard to imagine, either, given our current political climate.
It was good to see the spiritual renewal in the main character, Griffin Dowell. I'm not sure about the math by this author, who portrays the high-powered attorney as a Vietnam vet (might be more appropriate to use Desert Storm vets these days). But it was great to see him go from a materialistic, success-driven counsel for politicos in trouble, to realizing his need to return to the God he once served as a deacon in his church.
The other protagonist, Amanda Collins, was a bit more frustrating. The daughter of an intensely racist black New York City cop, she seemed to be lacking some of the sense her daddy would've drilled into her, when it came to handling dangerous situations. She ignored the counsel of her new father-figure, medical research scientist Avraham Hegel, and got herself and others into some deep trouble.
The author did a good job developing his characters. Even the bad guys were more than your typical cardboard cut-out villains. We got to see some of their motivation and what got them into their messy business to begin with.
For a first novel, I'd say Glyn J. Godwin produced a winner. I am surprised that we have not heard more from this attorney-turned-author. Maybe he realized it is more lucrative to practice law than write for a living!
The prologue was a bit tough to follow. It was written from several different points of view, with almost no cues to tell you so, that made it hard to understand. The rest of the book was much better.
This story reads something like a Grisham novel, with the mounting suspense and unfolding political intrigue. The subject was primarily the use of supposedly aborted children as sources of black-market body parts. Using a carefully hidden, top-secret facility, an illegal corporation was cultivating "conceptuses" and harvesting their organs--all with the support of some very wealthy and influential individuals. The self-justification by some of the antagonists was not unlike what we see in previous and current administrations. Their abuses of power are not hard to imagine, either, given our current political climate.
It was good to see the spiritual renewal in the main character, Griffin Dowell. I'm not sure about the math by this author, who portrays the high-powered attorney as a Vietnam vet (might be more appropriate to use Desert Storm vets these days). But it was great to see him go from a materialistic, success-driven counsel for politicos in trouble, to realizing his need to return to the God he once served as a deacon in his church.
The other protagonist, Amanda Collins, was a bit more frustrating. The daughter of an intensely racist black New York City cop, she seemed to be lacking some of the sense her daddy would've drilled into her, when it came to handling dangerous situations. She ignored the counsel of her new father-figure, medical research scientist Avraham Hegel, and got herself and others into some deep trouble.
The author did a good job developing his characters. Even the bad guys were more than your typical cardboard cut-out villains. We got to see some of their motivation and what got them into their messy business to begin with.
For a first novel, I'd say Glyn J. Godwin produced a winner. I am surprised that we have not heard more from this attorney-turned-author. Maybe he realized it is more lucrative to practice law than write for a living!
July 2, 2014
Wow!! Could not put this down! A suspenseful kind of sci fi thriller dealing with politics and babies. The book delved into any area that is difficult to imagine, but not impossible.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews