I received this book from the Goodreads First reads giveaway program. Thank you author/publisher for the opportunity to read and review your new novel. The Barkeep by William Lashner is a thriller. This was my first time reading anything of Lashner will not be my last. The Barkeep follows Just...
Perhaps a common dream is to find a lot of money. “Dirty” drug money at that. What if you took the cash and years later the bad guys came after you? What would you do?This is my first book by William Lashner. (I chose it because it was cheap.) It’s not great writing – I just finished a Hemmi...
Philadelphia Attorney Victor Carl wakes up one morning in the vestibule of his apartment building, his suit disheveled, socks missing, and the name Chantal Adair inscribed on his chest. Victor can’t remember what happened the prior night and is on a quest to find out, along with who Chantal Adair...
Seventh in the Victor Carl, Philadelphia criminal defense lawyer, series.Carl finds himself defending his First and Only True Love, Julia, against a charge of murdering her husband.This is a plot that stands or falls on Lashner’s ability to write about obsessive love--and he mostly fails.There is...
It means something to be a client. It means he gets my loyalty, whether he deserves it or not. It means he gets my absolute best for the price of an hourly fee. It means in a world where every person has turned against him there is one person who will fight by his side for as long as there is a b...
Neon, flash, the crush of crowds opening for long-legged women in boots and short skirts. Artificial light, artificial air, proud entrances, meek exits, announcements, lines, doors hissing open and shut, chrome, chrome. The bells and whistles of the slot machines, the silver clatter of coins, the...
Beth, sitting next to me, grimaced at the sight. Mia Dalton leaned over her desk to get a better view. “It’s gone, all right,” said Mia Dalton. “What’s the brown gunk in the hole?” “A dressing. I accidentally removed the scab and exposed the bone.” ...
Rizzo Sr. Ice Skating Rink at Front and Ellsworth there was already a crowd behind the yellow tape. Across the street from the tape was Interstate 95, which hacks through the eastern edge of Philadelphia like a blunt cleaver. The ice rink, with its facade of blue-and-white tile, was squeezed bene...
Whenever one of the subtle mob hits occurs somewhere in South Philadelphia or in the new ganglands of New Jersey, the papers and the television stations go crazy with coverage. There are photographs of the victim, sprawled in an alley or in his car, puddles of blood leaking from his newly created...
Where be his quiddits now, his quillets, his cases, his tenures, and his tricks?—Hamlet, in the graveyard, act 5, scene 1 ContentsEpigraph iii Chapter 1 KYLE, ALL OF TWELVE years old, hated the suit. 1 Chapter 2 THE NAME WAS ROBERT, not Bobby or little Bobby or… 15 Chapter 3 KYLE BYRNE SPIED his ...
I woke to the sound of ripping, of slashing, of a horror movie being played with the volume low in the very next room, and I knew, right away and without doubt, they had come to slit my throat and steal my shoes. As the realization hit me, I, quite sensibly, quailed and wh...
His arm was stronger than before, healing quickly, as if his body knew it had no choice. His muscles all were sore—he wore his pain like a tight-fitting bodysuit—but he also felt quick and lithe and ready for a physical challenge. During his short time on the run, his whole sense of self had some...