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Dismas Hardy #2
The Vig
A beautiful woman paid it with her body. A seedy lawyer used somebody else’s money. It’s the vig – the exorbitant interest mob loan sharks take on their money. Now, in the city by the Bay, everyone has to pay…
Down-and-out-lawyer Rusty Ingraham left behind a murdered woman and a houseboat splattered with blood. All the evidence said Ingraham was in San Francisco Bay. Dead. But a friend of Ingraham’s, former cop and prosecutor Dismas Hardy, isn’t so sure. And Hardy has to find out, because a stone-cold killer, now paroled, once threatened to kill Ingraham and Dismas Hardy both.
Now, to save his own skin, Dismas must face down liars and killers on both sides of the law. From mob foot soldiers to brokenhearted lovers to renegade cops, a dozen lives are tied to the fate of Rusty Ingraham – and the payback has only just begun…
Down-and-out-lawyer Rusty Ingraham left behind a murdered woman and a houseboat splattered with blood. All the evidence said Ingraham was in San Francisco Bay. Dead. But a friend of Ingraham’s, former cop and prosecutor Dismas Hardy, isn’t so sure. And Hardy has to find out, because a stone-cold killer, now paroled, once threatened to kill Ingraham and Dismas Hardy both.
Now, to save his own skin, Dismas must face down liars and killers on both sides of the law. From mob foot soldiers to brokenhearted lovers to renegade cops, a dozen lives are tied to the fate of Rusty Ingraham – and the payback has only just begun…
384 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 8, 1991
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1123 people want to read
About the author
John Lescroart
141 books1,302 followersJohn Lescroart (born January 14, 1948) is an American author best known for two series of legal and crime thriller novels featuring the characters Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky.
Lescroart was born in Houston, Texas, and graduated from Junípero Serra High School, San Mateo, California (Class of 1966). He then went on to earn a B.A. in English with Honors at UC Berkeley in 1970. In addition to his novels, Lescroart has written several screenplays.
Lescroart was born in Houston, Texas, and graduated from Junípero Serra High School, San Mateo, California (Class of 1966). He then went on to earn a B.A. in English with Honors at UC Berkeley in 1970. In addition to his novels, Lescroart has written several screenplays.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 197 reviews
August 3, 2018
The first 3/4 of this novel was M.I.A. It takes more than, "the black guy did it," when developing a frame up. The last bit saves this and I hope the next in the series has more relevant action. 4 of 10 stars
November 14, 2015
An old book but a great book. I started reading this Dismas Hardy series unfortunately in the middle of it before I realized it was a series.. So I backtracked and started at the beginning. Great characters. Well written. My kind of cop/detective story. This was book 2 and I believe there are 16 books in this series. Its like the Robert Parker, Jesse Stone series. I often compare cop books to his writing. I find the Parker books very comfortable. Nothing that will stop your heart or make you fall over with your mouth open..but the kind of books that draw you in, make you feel at home and want to keep reading to see where the character goes. Dismas Hardy is one of those well written guys. You love him. You wonder about him. You'll worry about him. You'll want to know who is he going to choose? Even his career is in question but his integrity to the helping of others is not. His love for his friends is evident- even if he is mostly a loaner. Lawyer, ex cop, bartender, veteran of Vietnam, friend, ex wife, new girlfriend pregnant by a dead friend. There is much to choose from here.
Dismas is approached by an ex colleague. One of the bad guys they put away years ago is getting out of prison. Lewis's last words before they hauled him away was that he intended to rid the world of both Hardy and Rusty the lawyers, district attorney at the time. Suddenly Rusty is missing and Rusty's girlfriend is found dead on Rusty's boat. Lewis looks good for this murder right? Someone is keeping secrets. What if you had a gambling debt so high that you couldn't meet "The Vig" anymore? Loan sharks and the mob will loan you the money.. as long as you pay the interest of course- or what's known as " The Vig."
This book was first published in 1991 but does not feel like its out of the time element. It feels current and relevant and comfortable. My favorite kind of books. I've read others by John Lescroart and feel this way about all of his work. This is one author I will read everything he's written at some point. I will definitely finish this series. I already have bought nearly all of the books to do just that. This was not my usual review. I usually am doing a read/review for Netgalley or privately for an author. This is an older book as I mentioned as one of my own reads. Every so often I take a break from the blog and just hit my own TBR list. I really recommend John Lescroart and any of his books including this series.
Dismas is approached by an ex colleague. One of the bad guys they put away years ago is getting out of prison. Lewis's last words before they hauled him away was that he intended to rid the world of both Hardy and Rusty the lawyers, district attorney at the time. Suddenly Rusty is missing and Rusty's girlfriend is found dead on Rusty's boat. Lewis looks good for this murder right? Someone is keeping secrets. What if you had a gambling debt so high that you couldn't meet "The Vig" anymore? Loan sharks and the mob will loan you the money.. as long as you pay the interest of course- or what's known as " The Vig."
This book was first published in 1991 but does not feel like its out of the time element. It feels current and relevant and comfortable. My favorite kind of books. I've read others by John Lescroart and feel this way about all of his work. This is one author I will read everything he's written at some point. I will definitely finish this series. I already have bought nearly all of the books to do just that. This was not my usual review. I usually am doing a read/review for Netgalley or privately for an author. This is an older book as I mentioned as one of my own reads. Every so often I take a break from the blog and just hit my own TBR list. I really recommend John Lescroart and any of his books including this series.
March 4, 2018
Solid crime fiction first published in 1991 with a complex, well-executed plot, strong and engaging characters and a little social commentary that holds up well over 25 years later. This is book two in a long series, I’m looking forward to more.
July 23, 2017
Dismas Hardy’s resumé is a little difficult to understand: former Marine (combat in Vietnam), former San Francisco cop, former Assistant DA, now one-quarter owner of the Shamrock and full-time bartender there. The explanation is simple, though. The events that induced him to leave a promising legal career began when his infant son died as a result of an oversight on his father’s part. Then his marriage dissolved, and there ensued a 10-year period of self-loathing and aimlessness. Dismas had only begun to come back around recently when he was forced to re-use his investigative skills to discover who’d murdered his partner’s brother-in-law. Two years have passed since then. Now, as he nears 40, Dismas is drinking less and has even reconnected with his ex-wife.
Then one day his former office-mate in the DA’s office shows up at the Shamrock to inform him that a man the two of them had helped send to prison for a 13-year term has just gotten out early. And he had sworn to murder both of them. Thus begins The Vig, the second book in the bestselling Dismas Hardy series (now 16 strong) by San Francisco crime novelist John Lescroart.
The Vig is a murder mystery with a large cast of characters and lots of moving parts. In addition to Dismas, there’s Abe Glitsky, the African-American police officer who is his best friend; Abe’s wife, Flo; Moses McGuire, Dismas’ partner at the Shamrock; Moses’ widowed sister, Frannie; Rusty Shanahan, the former office-mate; Louis Baker, the murderous ex-con, and three younger criminals who hang around the neighborhood where he’s staying; Dismas’ ex-wife, Jane; loanshark Angelo “the Angel” Tortoni and his thuggish enforcer, Johnny LaGuardia; plus several hangers-on. Lescroart makes the whole thing work beautifully. Despite the large cast and the complicated plot, The Vig isn’t hard to follow. The principal characters emerge whole from the page. Suspense builds. And the novel wraps up with Dismas having emerged much further into the light of day.
The title, The Vig, is puzzling. The word (short for vigorish) is the usurious interest that a loanshark extorts from borrowers on a weekly or monthly basis that typically tie them to him for many years, often making it impossible for them ever to repay the principal. The concept enters the story, but it’s not central. But I guess many readers would find the word intriguing.
Then one day his former office-mate in the DA’s office shows up at the Shamrock to inform him that a man the two of them had helped send to prison for a 13-year term has just gotten out early. And he had sworn to murder both of them. Thus begins The Vig, the second book in the bestselling Dismas Hardy series (now 16 strong) by San Francisco crime novelist John Lescroart.
The Vig is a murder mystery with a large cast of characters and lots of moving parts. In addition to Dismas, there’s Abe Glitsky, the African-American police officer who is his best friend; Abe’s wife, Flo; Moses McGuire, Dismas’ partner at the Shamrock; Moses’ widowed sister, Frannie; Rusty Shanahan, the former office-mate; Louis Baker, the murderous ex-con, and three younger criminals who hang around the neighborhood where he’s staying; Dismas’ ex-wife, Jane; loanshark Angelo “the Angel” Tortoni and his thuggish enforcer, Johnny LaGuardia; plus several hangers-on. Lescroart makes the whole thing work beautifully. Despite the large cast and the complicated plot, The Vig isn’t hard to follow. The principal characters emerge whole from the page. Suspense builds. And the novel wraps up with Dismas having emerged much further into the light of day.
The title, The Vig, is puzzling. The word (short for vigorish) is the usurious interest that a loanshark extorts from borrowers on a weekly or monthly basis that typically tie them to him for many years, often making it impossible for them ever to repay the principal. The concept enters the story, but it’s not central. But I guess many readers would find the word intriguing.
March 18, 2015
Very enjoyable and entertaining. I am looking forward to reading more of this series!
March 6, 2018
Having read later Lescroart novels, I've had the desire to start at the earlier stories...Like many of this genre, the ensemble nature of the novels has their appeal like the other series I've been hooked on (Spenser, Patterson, Crais, etc.)...Dismas & Abe are swept up into murders that seem to point to a newly released con, who might also be targeting Dis...I like getting caught up, when the writing matters & Lescroart matters
September 9, 2012
Although I prefer reading from book number one in a series, sometimes it's not all that important. However, in this series, I believe it is important for the development of the main character, Dismas (Diz) Hardy.
He's an interesting guy; an ex-cop, ex-assistant prosecutor and now part-owner and bartender at the Little Shamrock, a local bar. Notice, I didn't say ‘fern bar’ like in TGIF or the like. It’s a neighborhood working man’s bar.
For much of the book Diz is looking over his shoulder after an old co-worker, Rusty Ingraham, and fellow prosecutor has told him a convicted felon they put behind bars will be ‘gunning’ for them. He is getting out of prison and will be looking towards fulfilling his threat to kill them both since they put him behind bars.
After Ingraham is killed, the finger, at one time or another, points to just about every character in the book outside of the 'regulars' from the first in the series, Dead Irish.
And besides the ‘thriller’ aspect of the novel, there is the love life of Diz who we find out early on is back trying to make a go of it with his ex-wife, Jane.
This book didn't seem as 'tight' as Lescroart's first book in the series. And while I got a very early idea of what happened, the 'who dunnit' (which I seldom do, by the way) it didn't take away from my overall opinion of the book. I just think that there was too much unrelated action which didn't add all that much to the main story.
However, I did enjoy getting to know Diz’ friend SFPD detective Abe Glitsky who I found to be an interesting character himself. And his heritage of having a black mother and white Jewish father just added to the underlying story of Dismas' true feeling about race and how those feelings relate to his interaction with others.
Yet, I do enjoy Lescroat's writing a lot and look forward to knowing more about who Diz really is. He's already shown to me that he has that moral compass that I admire in the protagonist.
He's an interesting guy; an ex-cop, ex-assistant prosecutor and now part-owner and bartender at the Little Shamrock, a local bar. Notice, I didn't say ‘fern bar’ like in TGIF or the like. It’s a neighborhood working man’s bar.
For much of the book Diz is looking over his shoulder after an old co-worker, Rusty Ingraham, and fellow prosecutor has told him a convicted felon they put behind bars will be ‘gunning’ for them. He is getting out of prison and will be looking towards fulfilling his threat to kill them both since they put him behind bars.
After Ingraham is killed, the finger, at one time or another, points to just about every character in the book outside of the 'regulars' from the first in the series, Dead Irish.
And besides the ‘thriller’ aspect of the novel, there is the love life of Diz who we find out early on is back trying to make a go of it with his ex-wife, Jane.
This book didn't seem as 'tight' as Lescroart's first book in the series. And while I got a very early idea of what happened, the 'who dunnit' (which I seldom do, by the way) it didn't take away from my overall opinion of the book. I just think that there was too much unrelated action which didn't add all that much to the main story.
However, I did enjoy getting to know Diz’ friend SFPD detective Abe Glitsky who I found to be an interesting character himself. And his heritage of having a black mother and white Jewish father just added to the underlying story of Dismas' true feeling about race and how those feelings relate to his interaction with others.
Yet, I do enjoy Lescroat's writing a lot and look forward to knowing more about who Diz really is. He's already shown to me that he has that moral compass that I admire in the protagonist.
March 23, 2020
#60 for the year finished 22nd march 2020 good read three stars liked it kindle owned
August 8, 2014
Months ago I read
, featuring the dynamic duo D.A. Dismas Hardy and his homicide detective sidekick Abe Glitsky. Hardy I like. Glitsky [the son of a Jewish father and a black mother] I adore. As The Vig opens, neither is happy. Years ago, Hardy and another prosecutor [Rusty] sent a black man to prison; now he's out and the word is, he intends to kill them. Glitsky is frustrated by what he sees as a lack of effort by many of his police department colleagues.
But there are plenty of murders to keep him busy. Hardy is busy trying to stay alive in a twisty plot that leads one way, then another. When it comes to creating secondary characters, Lescroart is a master. What a lineup! The black man who's out of prison just wants to live his life, but trouble follows him as night follows day. Rusty, the mysteriously missing prosecutor, whose girlfriend is found murdered on his boat.
And then there are the mobsters. Angelo Tortoni, rules his crime family with an iron fist. Johnny LaGuardia, who collects the vig from people who borrow money from Angelo, winds up dead. Lescroart writes fabulous dialogue, at times laugh-out-loud funny. In one scene between Tortoni and Glitsky, every word out of Tortoni's mouth is a lie. Think one thing, say another. Abe doesn't fall for it, of course.
Through it all, Hardy is tormented by fears that he railroaded an innocent man simply because he's black. Eventually the plot twists come together in an emotionally satisfying ending. Don't miss it!
, featuring the dynamic duo D.A. Dismas Hardy and his homicide detective sidekick Abe Glitsky. Hardy I like. Glitsky [the son of a Jewish father and a black mother] I adore. As The Vig opens, neither is happy. Years ago, Hardy and another prosecutor [Rusty] sent a black man to prison; now he's out and the word is, he intends to kill them. Glitsky is frustrated by what he sees as a lack of effort by many of his police department colleagues. But there are plenty of murders to keep him busy. Hardy is busy trying to stay alive in a twisty plot that leads one way, then another. When it comes to creating secondary characters, Lescroart is a master. What a lineup! The black man who's out of prison just wants to live his life, but trouble follows him as night follows day. Rusty, the mysteriously missing prosecutor, whose girlfriend is found murdered on his boat.
And then there are the mobsters. Angelo Tortoni, rules his crime family with an iron fist. Johnny LaGuardia, who collects the vig from people who borrow money from Angelo, winds up dead. Lescroart writes fabulous dialogue, at times laugh-out-loud funny. In one scene between Tortoni and Glitsky, every word out of Tortoni's mouth is a lie. Think one thing, say another. Abe doesn't fall for it, of course.
Through it all, Hardy is tormented by fears that he railroaded an innocent man simply because he's black. Eventually the plot twists come together in an emotionally satisfying ending. Don't miss it!
January 15, 2012
The blurb on the cover of this one says, "the plot twists and turns..."
Having just emerged from this tale I'd go one further and call it labrynthian.
This is book 2 of the Dismas Hardy series, and for me, it filled in the picture I had of Dismas, Frannie, Abe and Moses even further. (I initially started this series at book #4, and have now just started re-reading from the beginning.)
It also gave me a hefty respect for the sheer amount of talent it takes to be an author. Not only do you need to have a good story; you need to be a craftsman. Have the skill to construct a story so that from the beginning the reader sees only the surface. Then, as you put the reader through his paces you peel away the layers, revealing only bits and pieces at a time, keeping the reader guessing until the very end.
This was a great read. On the face of it, a simple murder/missing person story. Underneath, it's about appearances, assumptions and human nature, and how an error in perception can change your very existence.
No wonder I like John Lescroart so much. :)
4 stars.
Having just emerged from this tale I'd go one further and call it labrynthian.
This is book 2 of the Dismas Hardy series, and for me, it filled in the picture I had of Dismas, Frannie, Abe and Moses even further. (I initially started this series at book #4, and have now just started re-reading from the beginning.)
It also gave me a hefty respect for the sheer amount of talent it takes to be an author. Not only do you need to have a good story; you need to be a craftsman. Have the skill to construct a story so that from the beginning the reader sees only the surface. Then, as you put the reader through his paces you peel away the layers, revealing only bits and pieces at a time, keeping the reader guessing until the very end.
This was a great read. On the face of it, a simple murder/missing person story. Underneath, it's about appearances, assumptions and human nature, and how an error in perception can change your very existence.
No wonder I like John Lescroart so much. :)
4 stars.
May 26, 2019
My notes from my first reading in 2004 mention the amusing dialog and building suspense, along with sudden disturbing violence. Despite the focus on relationships and friends and family stability, this is not a safe world. Twisted plot here with multiple plot lines--a murder, Hardy's belief that his life is in danger from the same murderer, the Mafia and the vig--that converge in a satisfying conclusion. Lots of SF; quirky, fascinating characters including a burned-out Hardy trying to find himself and his life's work plus his interest in Frannie; police politics; wonderful descriptive writing; Hardy's obsession with darts, a game he plays for relaxation and reflection. Here an old case, when Hardy worked for the DA, comes back to haunt him.
September 19, 2024
Too much unnecessary, uninteresting detail. I really didn't care who Dismas ended up with. I didn't care that it was a purple Armani shirt. Too many side shows- romance, philosophy, racism, stereotypes. Unrelated murders, didn't make it more interesting for me.
I'm done with this author.
I'm done with this author.
August 23, 2023
Very depressing. It seemed obvious what had really happened from pretty early on and I was excited to see how it was going to turn out to be something completely different. Except..... it was exactly what I thought. What a bore, what a letdown. So ridiculously obvious. Ugh.
August 15, 2023
The Vig picks up where Dead Irish left off with Dismas Hardy tending bar at the Little Shamrock. Rusty Ingraham an ex lawyer colleague visits Hardy to inform him that Louis Baker a convict whom both Hardy and Ingram sent to prison has just been released. Ingraham is afraid that both of their lives are in danger now that Baker is out.
Hardy enlists the help of his detective friend Abe Glitsky when Rusty goes missing and a lady by the name of Maxine Weir is found dead on Rusty’s boat.
Hardy has gotten back together with his ex-wife Jane who is away on a business trip to Hong Kong. Given that Hardy wants to hide from Baker until they find out what has happened, he spends time at Frannie’s (Mose’s sister) and their relationship deepens. Yes, Frannie is still pregnant with Eddie Cochrans baby who was murdered during Dead Irish.
Glitsky seems somewhat disheartened with the San Francisco police force during the novel and is looking into a transfer to LA.
The Vig represents the interest that one owes to a loan shark. Rusty Ingraham happens to have a gambling problem and owes money to the mob.
This novel is fast paced and exciting. I like the way it gradually gives the reader information about what happened to Ingraham and Weir however the reader is kept guessing to the very end. The story is very plausible and lots of fun.
I wonder if Baker will make an appearance in a future novel, will Glitsky go ahead with his transfer, what will Moses think of Hardy and Frannie’s deepened relationship and will Hardy continue to tend bar? I look forward to reading Dismas Hardy #3, Hard Evidence.
Hardy enlists the help of his detective friend Abe Glitsky when Rusty goes missing and a lady by the name of Maxine Weir is found dead on Rusty’s boat.
Hardy has gotten back together with his ex-wife Jane who is away on a business trip to Hong Kong. Given that Hardy wants to hide from Baker until they find out what has happened, he spends time at Frannie’s (Mose’s sister) and their relationship deepens. Yes, Frannie is still pregnant with Eddie Cochrans baby who was murdered during Dead Irish.
Glitsky seems somewhat disheartened with the San Francisco police force during the novel and is looking into a transfer to LA.
The Vig represents the interest that one owes to a loan shark. Rusty Ingraham happens to have a gambling problem and owes money to the mob.
This novel is fast paced and exciting. I like the way it gradually gives the reader information about what happened to Ingraham and Weir however the reader is kept guessing to the very end. The story is very plausible and lots of fun.
I wonder if Baker will make an appearance in a future novel, will Glitsky go ahead with his transfer, what will Moses think of Hardy and Frannie’s deepened relationship and will Hardy continue to tend bar? I look forward to reading Dismas Hardy #3, Hard Evidence.
July 31, 2018
I am definitely hooked on this series. This second in the series was so totally different from the first and kept you guessing till the end. Let's see if the others can keep my attention the way the first two have.
Read
January 6, 2019The second Dismas Hardy novel. The ‘black herring’ of the obvious suspect is, itself, a bit obvious, though it does foreground the issue of racism and the absence of equality before the law that so many non-caucasians have experienced. Hardy spends most of the narrative confused and scrambling, but also somehow likeable. Not unlike Ian Rankin, Lescroart blurs the lines between the underworld and the ‘overworld,’ and reminds us that some of the worst things have been done by the ‘forces of good.’
March 1, 2020
This is a fill-in for me in this series I had been reading several years ago and had difficulty acquiring the book from the library. It deals with the early years of Frannie and Dismas' relationship as well as several people from Dismas' past.
September 11, 2023
I'm enjoying this recently discovered (by me) series. I'm a bit confused about time setting. This one is post-Harvey Milk and also not long after Book 1. Somehow I had in mind that Book 1 was earlier than this. But so it goes. I'm enjoying the character development and looking forward to the next book.
October 15, 2025
3.5 stars
I began reading the Dismas Hardy books mid-series, when Hardy was an established defense attorney and devoted family man. So it's interesting to go back to this second novel in the series, and observe Hardy's earlier escapades.
Background: After a tour in Vietnam and several years on the police force, Hardy became a prosecutor in the San Francisco District Attorney's office. Dismas was married to Jane, a buyer for I. Magnin, and things were going well.
Then Dismas and Jane had a baby named Michael, who fell out of his crib, hit his head, and died. Hardy blamed himself for the tragedy and could barely go on. In the aftermath, Hardy and Jane divorced, and Dismas quit his job as a prosecutor. Hardy then became a bartender in the Little Shamrock, a bar owned by his friend Moses McGuire.
*****
As 'The Vig' opens, Hardy has been working in the Little Shamrock for nearly a decade, and is a one-quarter owner. Dismas has also been seeing his ex-wife Jane, who's on a buying trip to Hong Kong right now. Dismas and Jane exchange phone calls, but they're both ambivalent about making their relationship permanent.
Hardy is on the afternoon shift at the Little Shamrock when Rusty Ingraham, Dismas's former colleague in the D.A.'s office, comes in. Ingraham has news about a vicious convict named Louis Baker, a murderer who'd finally been nailed for armed robbery ten years ago. When Baker was led off to prison, he vowed to kill Ingraham and Hardy......and Baker is now getting out on parole.
Hardy and Ingraham agree to keep in touch by way of phones calls, so if one of them is found by Baker, the other will be warned. Shockingly, ONE DAY after Baker gets out, Hardy doesn't get the expected call. Hardy goes over to Ingraham's houseboat, and finds a dead woman and a trail of blood leading to the bay.
Hardy's best friend, SFPD Homicide Detective Abe Glitsky, who's half-Jewish and half-Black, arrives to examine the crime scene. The murdered woman is identified as Ingraham's girlfriend Maxine Weir, but there's no sign of Ingraham.
Hardy INSISTS Baker killed both Maxine and Rusty, and Rusty then fell or was thrown overboard. Hardy is absolutely certain Baker is coming after him now, and DEMANDS that Abe arrest Baker ASAP.
However, Abe points out there's no evidence connecting Maxine's murder to Baker, and there's no proof Ingraham is dead. For a large part of the novel, Hardy tries to PROVE Ingraham was murdered, and to convince Abe to take Baker off the street.
In the meantime, Hardy is reluctant to return to his own house, where Baker might find him. So Dismas goes to stay with Moses McGuire's sister Frannie, who's recently widowed and pregnant. Dismas and Frannie have known each other for many years, and have felt a mild attraction, but there are issues to consider.
The houseboat crime(s) form the main plot of the novel, but there's much more going on. I'll give a brief summary.
➽ Mobster Angelo Tortoni lends money to people in need, then charges a huge vigorish (interest rate).
Tortoni's 'muscle' Johnny LaGuardia collects 'the vig' every week, and gets rough if people don't pay.
*****
➽ When convict Louis Baker gets out on parole, he goes to stay with a woman he calls Mama.
Baker wants to fix up Mama's house, and his first order of business is to get white spray paint, and cover the graffiti outside. This puts Louis at odds with the drug dealer who tagged the area. The ensuing hostility leads to violent encounters.
*****
➽ A gay man named Fred Treadwell - who loves his dog Poppy - is suspected of killing his cheating lover and another man.
When the police come to arrest Fred, he kicks out a window, jumps down two stories, and injures himself badly. Fred's lawyer then accuses the cops of police brutality and gay-bashing. This lie leads to a huge ruckus, a frustrated prosecutor, and a furious police department.
In the same vein, a former SFPD detective called Hector Medina - who's now head of security at a hotel - despises Rusty Ingraham. Several years ago, Rusty spread the word that Medina shot a suspect and planted a gun. Medina was cleared of all charges, but his police career was over.
*****
All is revealed by the end of the book, including the importance of 'the vig' to the story.
Some parts of the book work better than others. The investigation conducted by Glitsky and Hardy is compelling, but the other subplots slow down the novel, and some of them feel like filler.
Still, I'd recommend the 'Dismas Hardy' series to mystery fans.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot.com
July 2, 2021
A complex plot - characters all interesting
February 13, 2021
THE VIG [1990] (Dismas Hardy Book 2) By John Lescroart
My Review Four Stars****
I finished reading this second installment of the author’s Dismas Hardy series a couple of nights ago, over 30 years since it first hit the book shelves (it was made available to readers in Kindle format in 2006 or roughly 15 years ago).
I had been a big fan of Lescroart in the remote past, and thought it would be interesting to read some of his recent works featuring Dismas Hardy. I might add that I have been approaching any series that I care about by first revisiting the genesis of the character to reacquaint myself with the main protagonist and his or her universe to include the location and the constellation of supporting characters that populate the his/her world.
What better place to start than with the very first book in the now quite lengthy Dismas Hardy series? I started my journey by reading DEAD IRISH in the Spring of 2019. In the inaugural novel I found myself transported back to San Francisco at the end of the '80s. It is worthwhile to note that I quickly discovered that I hadn't read the earliest books and I was particularly excited to read about the character of Diz as Lescroart pictured him at the time of his creation.
Dismas emerges as a good-looking 38-year-old bartender who has been employed by best friend Moses at his Irish pub The Little Shamrock for the past seven years. Diz has primarily two passions, it seems, namely drinking and darts. The reader learns early on that Dismas is an ex-Marine, a former cop, and also an attorney who doesn't practice law. He would necessarily have accomplished quite a few career goals by the age of 30 or 31 years old, all tossed by the wayside.
Later we learn that Dismas had also been divorced for the past eight years, and after blaming himself for the accidental death of his 7-month son he had walked out on his wife and his law career without hesitation or explanation.
It was in vogue in the late '80s for the heroes in our crime fiction to be flawed protagonists, that is alcoholics, haunted by past career mistakes, personal tragedies, and generally carrying around so much baggage that I am surprised that they could handle the extra weight of their service weapon. Dismas Hardy is no exception, and is a razor's thin edge from an alcoholic. He has essentially parachuted out of that thing we call living, and found a much less complicated way to coast through the years.
Things change when Hardy is persuaded by his friend Moses to investigate the apparent suicide of Moses’s brother-in-law Eddie Cochran. Hardy's agreement to look into Eddie's death was only one leap back into "the walk of life"...he also reunited with his ex-wife, and said "yes" when Pico called to "walk the shark". It was the succession of these choices that marked Dismas Hardy's decision to once again embrace hope and rejoin the human race. I found myself looking forward to reading the second installment. But despite my decision to pursue reading the series in chronological order, I was generally disappointed in the novel DEAD IRISH, hence the lengthy period between reading it and picking up the second book in the series.
THE VIG could be read as a standalone novel. Hardy’s back story is explained in sufficient detail that the reader understands right away that for a mixologist in an Irish pub he has a varied and interesting curriculum vitae. Now approaching the big “40” at the beginning of the second book, he has fought as a Marine in Vietnam, worked as a seasoned San Francisco cop, and also earned a law degree to function as a former Assistant District Attorney. He had been on the road to a relationship with cirrhosis but had started on a path to rejoin the human race when Moses coerced him into flexing his cop instincts to flush out the murderer of Eddie, his partner’s brother-in-law. In the opening pages of the second book the reader finds Diz hitting the bottle less and maintaining a relationship with his ex-wife Jane which we saw heating up pretty steamily in DEAD IRISH. The reader is even brought up to speed on Hardy’s wasting a decade of his life coasting because of his guilt over the death of his infant son.
That said, there were “readability” problems early in the novel, including but not limited to its downright slow pace. The “breaks” in the narrative in the Kindle version of the book are not designated as chapters nor identified in any way. The reader encounters what amounts to a sub-plot with a different character (or pair, group, etc. of characters) at every turn. Many readers would likely have found the story line difficult to follow. There were also a number of editing errors secondary to poor proofreading which likely annoyed me less than it would some readers.
Fortunately, Lescroart is an exceptionally talented author and his descriptive style actually pulled me in to each scene, prompting me to look forward to the next segment of the narrative that returned to a particular aspect of the plot. The author writes very believable and often colorful characters who have distinctive personalities all their own. He is terrific at writing dialogue which often contains dark humor and I found myself smiling or in some cases actually laughing out loud.
The title of the book is THE VIG, and it is worthwhile to note that “the vig” is a term which means “the vigorish” or a “reasonable 10 points per week” that a customer is committed to pay a loan shark as “weekly interest” until he or she is able to pay the entire principal of the loan. The title holds the key to the answer to what is truly “a hard-boiled mystery” as the genre designation suggests.
The machine of this crime fiction novel is started down the road of murder and intrigue when Diz gets a visit from an Assistant DA named Rusty. The two men worked together back when Diz was with the DA’s Office. More importantly, Rusty is scared for his life and wants to warn Diz that he needs to be just as worried for his own health. The fear stems from a hardened con getting an early parole after serving only 9 years of a 13-year sentence after making rather convincing and articulate death threats against the two of them as he was dragged out of the courtroom looking for all the world like a rabid dog.
Diz is appropriately looking over his shoulder repeatedly, loading his .38 Special, and looking for a place to hide. All of this of course while telling his best friend Detective Abe Glitzy to pick up the felon immediately and slap him in jail. I can’t say Diz acts like an ex-Marine and former cop here, more like the devil-may-care bartender with a drink in his hand he’d been in recent years. That isn’t the part of the predicament, though, that really put a burr under my saddle and had me ready to stop reading the book. Candidly, I don’t believe I would have had such a knee-jerk reaction about this topic if I’d been reading it in 1990. This day and time (2021) is just not the time for a crime fiction novel having the scared potential target of a death threat (Diz) AND the Homicide Detective (Abe Glitzy) second guess themselves if they are racists or guilty of racial profiling. Later, Diz wonders “…not for the first time, how he’d feel if Baker hadn’t been black”. Diz and his preoccupation with racial prejudice about Baker (the hardened ex-con) was really a turn off, and then of course Diz (nervous though he was) nearly put a round or more from his .38 Special in his best friend Abe’s back [both large black men and Diz was looking from a distance in dim lighting with his senses heightened]. That was more to reinforce that they (blacks) all looked alike.
America today in February of 2021 is perhaps more sensitive to race issues and liberal views in general. I would acknowledge that I am no exception. Insofar as the book went, it was not at all a matter of racism, but rather whether correct police procedure and investigation was to be followed or alternatively, whether a newly released felon was going to be pinned with the rap because of convenience and laziness on the part of the police. I might add that I felt sympathy for the felon whose desire to make a new life was thwarted. Conversely, I had no patience for the novel’s overt liberal bias.
I enjoyed the sub-plots and the author’s pulling all of the various pieces together at the end to yield all of the answers and tie up loose ends. The criticisms I have mentioned had me convinced that this was another early work by Lescroart that was earning a Three Star Rating from me. Diz isn’t exactly a Knight In Shining Armor here, and I also mean with the Jane and Frannie angle, not to mention my incredulity that Diz would make the near fatal rookie mistake he made when he went after the killer in the end. I really had to suspend disbelief. But having said all that, this novel really WAS an enjoyable read. I just got to go with Four Stars despite the book’s infuriating shortcomings.
SECOND BOOK IN THE DISMAS HARDY SERIES FROM 1990---ENTERTAINING WHODUNIT
My Review Four Stars****
I finished reading this second installment of the author’s Dismas Hardy series a couple of nights ago, over 30 years since it first hit the book shelves (it was made available to readers in Kindle format in 2006 or roughly 15 years ago).
I had been a big fan of Lescroart in the remote past, and thought it would be interesting to read some of his recent works featuring Dismas Hardy. I might add that I have been approaching any series that I care about by first revisiting the genesis of the character to reacquaint myself with the main protagonist and his or her universe to include the location and the constellation of supporting characters that populate the his/her world.
What better place to start than with the very first book in the now quite lengthy Dismas Hardy series? I started my journey by reading DEAD IRISH in the Spring of 2019. In the inaugural novel I found myself transported back to San Francisco at the end of the '80s. It is worthwhile to note that I quickly discovered that I hadn't read the earliest books and I was particularly excited to read about the character of Diz as Lescroart pictured him at the time of his creation.
Dismas emerges as a good-looking 38-year-old bartender who has been employed by best friend Moses at his Irish pub The Little Shamrock for the past seven years. Diz has primarily two passions, it seems, namely drinking and darts. The reader learns early on that Dismas is an ex-Marine, a former cop, and also an attorney who doesn't practice law. He would necessarily have accomplished quite a few career goals by the age of 30 or 31 years old, all tossed by the wayside.
Later we learn that Dismas had also been divorced for the past eight years, and after blaming himself for the accidental death of his 7-month son he had walked out on his wife and his law career without hesitation or explanation.
It was in vogue in the late '80s for the heroes in our crime fiction to be flawed protagonists, that is alcoholics, haunted by past career mistakes, personal tragedies, and generally carrying around so much baggage that I am surprised that they could handle the extra weight of their service weapon. Dismas Hardy is no exception, and is a razor's thin edge from an alcoholic. He has essentially parachuted out of that thing we call living, and found a much less complicated way to coast through the years.
Things change when Hardy is persuaded by his friend Moses to investigate the apparent suicide of Moses’s brother-in-law Eddie Cochran. Hardy's agreement to look into Eddie's death was only one leap back into "the walk of life"...he also reunited with his ex-wife, and said "yes" when Pico called to "walk the shark". It was the succession of these choices that marked Dismas Hardy's decision to once again embrace hope and rejoin the human race. I found myself looking forward to reading the second installment. But despite my decision to pursue reading the series in chronological order, I was generally disappointed in the novel DEAD IRISH, hence the lengthy period between reading it and picking up the second book in the series.
THE VIG could be read as a standalone novel. Hardy’s back story is explained in sufficient detail that the reader understands right away that for a mixologist in an Irish pub he has a varied and interesting curriculum vitae. Now approaching the big “40” at the beginning of the second book, he has fought as a Marine in Vietnam, worked as a seasoned San Francisco cop, and also earned a law degree to function as a former Assistant District Attorney. He had been on the road to a relationship with cirrhosis but had started on a path to rejoin the human race when Moses coerced him into flexing his cop instincts to flush out the murderer of Eddie, his partner’s brother-in-law. In the opening pages of the second book the reader finds Diz hitting the bottle less and maintaining a relationship with his ex-wife Jane which we saw heating up pretty steamily in DEAD IRISH. The reader is even brought up to speed on Hardy’s wasting a decade of his life coasting because of his guilt over the death of his infant son.
That said, there were “readability” problems early in the novel, including but not limited to its downright slow pace. The “breaks” in the narrative in the Kindle version of the book are not designated as chapters nor identified in any way. The reader encounters what amounts to a sub-plot with a different character (or pair, group, etc. of characters) at every turn. Many readers would likely have found the story line difficult to follow. There were also a number of editing errors secondary to poor proofreading which likely annoyed me less than it would some readers.
Fortunately, Lescroart is an exceptionally talented author and his descriptive style actually pulled me in to each scene, prompting me to look forward to the next segment of the narrative that returned to a particular aspect of the plot. The author writes very believable and often colorful characters who have distinctive personalities all their own. He is terrific at writing dialogue which often contains dark humor and I found myself smiling or in some cases actually laughing out loud.
The title of the book is THE VIG, and it is worthwhile to note that “the vig” is a term which means “the vigorish” or a “reasonable 10 points per week” that a customer is committed to pay a loan shark as “weekly interest” until he or she is able to pay the entire principal of the loan. The title holds the key to the answer to what is truly “a hard-boiled mystery” as the genre designation suggests.
The machine of this crime fiction novel is started down the road of murder and intrigue when Diz gets a visit from an Assistant DA named Rusty. The two men worked together back when Diz was with the DA’s Office. More importantly, Rusty is scared for his life and wants to warn Diz that he needs to be just as worried for his own health. The fear stems from a hardened con getting an early parole after serving only 9 years of a 13-year sentence after making rather convincing and articulate death threats against the two of them as he was dragged out of the courtroom looking for all the world like a rabid dog.
Diz is appropriately looking over his shoulder repeatedly, loading his .38 Special, and looking for a place to hide. All of this of course while telling his best friend Detective Abe Glitzy to pick up the felon immediately and slap him in jail. I can’t say Diz acts like an ex-Marine and former cop here, more like the devil-may-care bartender with a drink in his hand he’d been in recent years. That isn’t the part of the predicament, though, that really put a burr under my saddle and had me ready to stop reading the book. Candidly, I don’t believe I would have had such a knee-jerk reaction about this topic if I’d been reading it in 1990. This day and time (2021) is just not the time for a crime fiction novel having the scared potential target of a death threat (Diz) AND the Homicide Detective (Abe Glitzy) second guess themselves if they are racists or guilty of racial profiling. Later, Diz wonders “…not for the first time, how he’d feel if Baker hadn’t been black”. Diz and his preoccupation with racial prejudice about Baker (the hardened ex-con) was really a turn off, and then of course Diz (nervous though he was) nearly put a round or more from his .38 Special in his best friend Abe’s back [both large black men and Diz was looking from a distance in dim lighting with his senses heightened]. That was more to reinforce that they (blacks) all looked alike.
America today in February of 2021 is perhaps more sensitive to race issues and liberal views in general. I would acknowledge that I am no exception. Insofar as the book went, it was not at all a matter of racism, but rather whether correct police procedure and investigation was to be followed or alternatively, whether a newly released felon was going to be pinned with the rap because of convenience and laziness on the part of the police. I might add that I felt sympathy for the felon whose desire to make a new life was thwarted. Conversely, I had no patience for the novel’s overt liberal bias.
I enjoyed the sub-plots and the author’s pulling all of the various pieces together at the end to yield all of the answers and tie up loose ends. The criticisms I have mentioned had me convinced that this was another early work by Lescroart that was earning a Three Star Rating from me. Diz isn’t exactly a Knight In Shining Armor here, and I also mean with the Jane and Frannie angle, not to mention my incredulity that Diz would make the near fatal rookie mistake he made when he went after the killer in the end. I really had to suspend disbelief. But having said all that, this novel really WAS an enjoyable read. I just got to go with Four Stars despite the book’s infuriating shortcomings.
SECOND BOOK IN THE DISMAS HARDY SERIES FROM 1990---ENTERTAINING WHODUNIT
January 19, 2014
Totally cool read, that I enjoyed more than its predecessor. Lescroart brings Dismas Hardy back in this second installment of the series.
I really enjoy Hardy as a character, and although I am not sure if Abe Glitsky will be his co-star (for lack of a better word) is another cool addition. Dismas is back, and this time a paroled convict who has threatened to kill both Dismas and his friend Rusty is at the thick of the action....within a day a double murder (perhaps) has occurred, and Rusty is missing. In trying to solve the case Dismas and Abe finally pin the convict at the scene of the crime and a 3rd murder as well. Dismas seems to have his man, but then begins having second thoughts....what ensues is a multifaceted murder mystery, where the pieces don't fit together...but Dismas and Ane keep trying...the ending is very cool IMHO!
I would recommend this book to all thriller fans....this could fare well as a stand alone should you chose, but I would recommend book 1 prior to this....although the characters and plot should hold up should you skip that.
I really enjoy Hardy as a character, and although I am not sure if Abe Glitsky will be his co-star (for lack of a better word) is another cool addition. Dismas is back, and this time a paroled convict who has threatened to kill both Dismas and his friend Rusty is at the thick of the action....within a day a double murder (perhaps) has occurred, and Rusty is missing. In trying to solve the case Dismas and Abe finally pin the convict at the scene of the crime and a 3rd murder as well. Dismas seems to have his man, but then begins having second thoughts....what ensues is a multifaceted murder mystery, where the pieces don't fit together...but Dismas and Ane keep trying...the ending is very cool IMHO!
I would recommend this book to all thriller fans....this could fare well as a stand alone should you chose, but I would recommend book 1 prior to this....although the characters and plot should hold up should you skip that.
November 15, 2012
As usual, iin Lescroart's "Dismas Hardy" series, he has an interesting plot and an wide range of well-drawn characters. Murder, loan sharks, threats and politics all mixed up in a nice legal /suspernse thriller. The series' books do not need to be read in order---each can stand alone.
This is an early one in the Dismas Hardy series and one part I liked is the interaction between Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky. While Hardy is frantic over a death threat made earlier by a parolee, Glitsky feels such threats are a dime a dozen--talk is cheap and so on. Since Hardy and Glitsky usually are working on the same page, it was interesting to see them not in complete agreement.
This a favorite series for me. I find John Lescroart skilled at weaving several cases and chaacters together with good plotting. Neither violence or language were too graphic; a good mystery series for any adult fan of legal or police thrillers.
This is an early one in the Dismas Hardy series and one part I liked is the interaction between Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky. While Hardy is frantic over a death threat made earlier by a parolee, Glitsky feels such threats are a dime a dozen--talk is cheap and so on. Since Hardy and Glitsky usually are working on the same page, it was interesting to see them not in complete agreement.
This a favorite series for me. I find John Lescroart skilled at weaving several cases and chaacters together with good plotting. Neither violence or language were too graphic; a good mystery series for any adult fan of legal or police thrillers.
December 28, 2018
Rusty, a former lawyer friend, comes to see Dismas to tell him that a man they put in jail was getting out. The man had sworn to kill them both. They decide to call each other twice daily. When Rusty doesn't call, Dismas finds a dead woman on Rusty's boat and is arrested by the police. Ike, his police friend explains that Dismas is not the killer, but neither know were Rusty is. Was Rusty killed and thrown in the water. Dismas decides that he needs to stay away from home so he goes to stay with Frannie, a pregnant woman from his last book and the sister of his best friend, Moses. Good story with some very surprising twists.
January 26, 2016
This was my first experience with this author. It was well done, but I found myself having trouble connecting with the characters until the very end. The plot was a bit too transparent for my tastes, but it was still an entertaing read. I might read more from this author but it will unlikely be something I'm in a hurry to do. I think the Nordic Noir authors and Michael Connelly just do it better, setting a rather high bar.
October 28, 2015
Another enjoyable entry to Dismas Hardy. This is only my second book in the series but I'm going to be bold and dare to say I think this series is right on par with Harry Bosch. And that is a pretty big compliment as I love that series.
September 2, 2016
Great story with Dismas and Abe -- who are great characters. Looking forward to the whole series.
August 25, 2024
Published in 1991, this is the second novel in what would become a long-running series by John Lescroart featuring San Francisco lawyer Dismas Hardy. Named for the Good Thief who died next to Christ, Hardy has had a varied career up to this point and is still settling into the life and the role he will ultimately enjoy in this series.
Hardy served in the Marines in the Vietnam War. He came home and ultimately became a cop and an assistant D.A. in San Francisco. But then his life went off the rails in the wake of a devastating personal tragedy and in his late thirties Hardy was basically lost and drifting from day-to-day. He took a job working as a bartender at the Shamrock bar for his long-time friend Moses McGuire, whose life Hardy had saved in the war. As a consequence of events in the first novel in the series, Dead Irish, Hardy now owns twenty-five percent of the bar and continues to work a daily shift there.
Hardy's life is upended one afternoon when Rusty Ingraham, an associate of Hardy's from the D.A.'s office, comes into the Shamrock to inform Hardy that a convict named Louis Baker is being released from prison. Hardy and Ingraham were responsible for sending Baker to the pen and on his way out the door, Baker threatened to kill both of them the moment he was free.
Ingraham believes that Baker was serious and urges Hardy to take precautions. The two men agree to check in with each other a couple of times a day but then almost immediately, Ingraham fails to do so. Hardy goes down to the barge where Ingraham lives on San Francisco Bay, to discover a woman who has been shot to death. A trail of blood, identified as Ingraham's, trails off the barge, leading into the water, and it appears that Ingraham too was shot and then either crawled or was dragged into the water.
Whe Louis Baker's fingerprints are discovered at the scene, the case appears to be open and shut. Hardy is now in panic mode believing that Baker is hot on his trail as well. But even Abe Glitsky, a police detective who is Hardy's closest friend, refuses to take the threat as seriously as Hardy does. Since Ingraham's body has not yet surfaced, the police won't even concede that he is a murder victim and that Baker could be gunning for Hardy as well.
Having no other alternative, Hardy will have to take the initiative himself. The result is a quest involving a lot of very interesting characters and a plot with many intriguing twists and turns. Dismas Hardy is a very bright and sympathetic character and from these first two novels would rapidly become on of my favorite series characters. All in all, The Vig is a very entertaining read.
Hardy served in the Marines in the Vietnam War. He came home and ultimately became a cop and an assistant D.A. in San Francisco. But then his life went off the rails in the wake of a devastating personal tragedy and in his late thirties Hardy was basically lost and drifting from day-to-day. He took a job working as a bartender at the Shamrock bar for his long-time friend Moses McGuire, whose life Hardy had saved in the war. As a consequence of events in the first novel in the series, Dead Irish, Hardy now owns twenty-five percent of the bar and continues to work a daily shift there.
Hardy's life is upended one afternoon when Rusty Ingraham, an associate of Hardy's from the D.A.'s office, comes into the Shamrock to inform Hardy that a convict named Louis Baker is being released from prison. Hardy and Ingraham were responsible for sending Baker to the pen and on his way out the door, Baker threatened to kill both of them the moment he was free.
Ingraham believes that Baker was serious and urges Hardy to take precautions. The two men agree to check in with each other a couple of times a day but then almost immediately, Ingraham fails to do so. Hardy goes down to the barge where Ingraham lives on San Francisco Bay, to discover a woman who has been shot to death. A trail of blood, identified as Ingraham's, trails off the barge, leading into the water, and it appears that Ingraham too was shot and then either crawled or was dragged into the water.
Whe Louis Baker's fingerprints are discovered at the scene, the case appears to be open and shut. Hardy is now in panic mode believing that Baker is hot on his trail as well. But even Abe Glitsky, a police detective who is Hardy's closest friend, refuses to take the threat as seriously as Hardy does. Since Ingraham's body has not yet surfaced, the police won't even concede that he is a murder victim and that Baker could be gunning for Hardy as well.
Having no other alternative, Hardy will have to take the initiative himself. The result is a quest involving a lot of very interesting characters and a plot with many intriguing twists and turns. Dismas Hardy is a very bright and sympathetic character and from these first two novels would rapidly become on of my favorite series characters. All in all, The Vig is a very entertaining read.
February 10, 2019
Dismas Hardy is on his own. His ex-wife and current girl friend, Jane, is out of town. So, when he gets another complicated mystery laid in his lap, he's free to pursue. The problem is that he feels at risk for his life...its too complicated to explain, just trust me on this...and he ends up staying with his bosses pregnant sister who's husband's murder was the subject of Dismas' last mystery to solve. So, of course, their attraction leads to their falling into bed and complicating what will become an even more complicated murder mystery involving multiple characters and multiple murders. You with me so far?
Well, its a good story and Dis is a good character and Lescroart knows how to weave a very complicated series of mysteries out of the whole mess. Oh, the Vig, is the interest on a loan from a loan shark....that's also part of the story. I'm beginning to like this series and will be going on to #3.
Well, its a good story and Dis is a good character and Lescroart knows how to weave a very complicated series of mysteries out of the whole mess. Oh, the Vig, is the interest on a loan from a loan shark....that's also part of the story. I'm beginning to like this series and will be going on to #3.
May 19, 2021
I recently read the ninth book in this series and decided to go back and read the entire series. I started reading these books in my mid-teens (20 years ago) and have read seven of them so far.
Lescroart is a great writer. For a mass market paperback series, I still remember the books I've read in the past... its rare for these types of books to stick around in my memory, so I think that speaks to their strength.
And for a white dude writing in the '90s, Lescroart rarely has cringe racist/sexist/homophobic moments in this second book, and where these issues do appear they are written fairly well into the storyline. There is a lot to be said about critiquing the law/police force while making money off of their ubiquity in society, but I'm not going to take the energy here to do so. In my opinion, Lescroart did a fairly good job of writing about the structural racism of the carceral state in this book, and the rest of the story was entertaining.
Lescroart is a great writer. For a mass market paperback series, I still remember the books I've read in the past... its rare for these types of books to stick around in my memory, so I think that speaks to their strength.
And for a white dude writing in the '90s, Lescroart rarely has cringe racist/sexist/homophobic moments in this second book, and where these issues do appear they are written fairly well into the storyline. There is a lot to be said about critiquing the law/police force while making money off of their ubiquity in society, but I'm not going to take the energy here to do so. In my opinion, Lescroart did a fairly good job of writing about the structural racism of the carceral state in this book, and the rest of the story was entertaining.
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