Parker Hanson is a New Hampshirite and former investigative reporter now doing PI work. But sitting long hours on stake-outs without falling asleep requires a “generous amount of caffeine,” which (“along with a poor family history”) factored into Parker’s recent heart attack before his 45th birthday. On a current case, when he’s not watching baseball or going to cardiac rehab, Parker is shadowing Mark Bowman, deputy chief of staff in Governor Jack Gordon’s office. Mark’s wife Brooke, an attractive woman in her mid-30s, hires Parker to find out if her suddenly distant husband is having an affair. “If he is, then he’s an idiot,” Parker thinks. But when trailing Mark, Parker sees him get into a woman’s car. Then a truck intentionally hits the couple’s car, engulfing it in flames, and the truck driver flees. Mark and the woman—who turns out to be Parker’s former co-worker, reporter Maggie Malone—are dead. Parker noses around the newspaper and talks to Maggie’s roommate, discovering that the journalist was investigating a private forest management concern called Tree Kings that had been awarded a state contract by the Gordon administration; a government IT staffer discovered that Tree Kings’ bid for the contract had been tampered with after the submission deadline, and Mark wouldn’t let the matter rest. The writing is crisp, but the plot is predictable. Still, Parker is an engaging character, one to root for. The theme of fatherhood weaves through the narrative; another thread follows Parker’s recovery efforts after his heart attack (the camaraderie at cardiac rehab fleshes out the protagonist). Baseball references pepper the text, but there’s no need to italicize them—or such other emphasized comments as “Good question.” The late-stage introduction of the sweet bloodhound Minerva is a welcome extra.
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English (US) ·