Standup Guy

October 14, 2013
A misunderstanding leads Stone Barrington to take on ex-con John Fratelli as a client at the start of bestseller Woods’s polished 28th outing for the suave New York City attorney (after 2013’s Doing Hard Time). Fratelli put his 25 years in Sing Sing to good use by protecting fellow prisoner Eduardo Buono, who rewarded his service by telling Fratelli how to retrieve $2 million in stolen but now technically legal money from a safe-deposit box. Stone’s advice to Fratelli causes complications that Stone isn’t able to handle with the ease fans have become accustomed to, though he continues to enjoy the considerable perks of good friends, fine food, and beautiful women. Alluring illustrator Henrietta “Hank” Cromwell gives Stone’s love life a boost. Fratelli’s bumpy transformation into a wealthy, retired entrepreneur amuses. Stone fences with federal agents, tangles with thugs, and faces the problem of dealing with $5 million in small bills in the liveliest Barrington novel in some time. Agent: Anne Sibbald, Janklow & Nesbit.

January 1, 2014
New York attorney Stone Barrington (Doing Hard Time, 2013, etc.) reaps the whirlwind after advising a walk-in client how to live safely on several million dollars in ill-gotten gains. John Fratelli is a stand-up guy. Jailed 25 years ago for armed robbery, he did his time, kept his mouth shut and patiently waited to get out. Now he's out, along with the key to a safe deposit box his cellmate, Eduardo Buono, bequeathed him. The box contains Buono's disproportionate share of the proceeds from the robbery of the freight terminal at JFK (remember that?), and Fratelli, who's heard that Stone's a stand-up guy too, wants his advice about what to do with it. Stone gives him some elementary pointers and sends him on his way. Fratelli's danger seems minimal, since the statute of limitations has long run out on the heist. But evidently not for a pair of Secret Service agents who get interested in the case; or for a retired FBI agent who's determined to cut himself in; or for wiseguy Onofrio "Bats" Buono, who thinks that as Eddie's nephew, he's entitled to the money himself. So Fratelli keeps phoning Stone for more advice, and every conversation enmeshes Stone more deeply in his troubles. Which would be fine if Stone weren't also fielding big-deal calls from British fashion designer Emma Tweed, who wants to know how to catch whoever's stealing her designs, and Katherine Rule Lee, the first lady who wants Stone to help her launch her otherwise hush-hush candidacy to succeed her husband as president. The subplots lead nowhere, and the main upshot of Fratelli's little problem is some uncharacteristically salty language.

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November 1, 2013
A hefty load of ill-gotten cash is at the heart of Stone Barrington's problems in the latest entry in Woods' (Doing Hard Time, 2013) long-running series. When ex-con John Fratelli pays Stone a visit seeking legal advice about the $2 million his cellmate bequeathed him, Stone helps Fratelli around some of the potential illegalities of the situation, given that the cash was obtained more than two decades ago in a robbery. Once Fratelli, grateful for the advice, takes off for Florida, Stone thinks he's seen the last of him, and he never imagines that he'll get wrapped up in a dogged pursuit of the money. But soon an ex-cop, the Secret Service, and a determined thug are questioning Stone about its whereabouts. The thug proves especially problematic, grabbing Stone's latest paramour and holding her hostage for $5 million. Woods sets up a potentially interesting presidential bid that will presumably be explored in future installments, but this outing is fairly run-of-the-mill and predictable at times. And do we really need multiple scenes of Fratelli golfing with his girlfriend?(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)