Killer's Choice

June 1, 2019
Hard-boiled meets high society in a novel of unspeakable horror among the unspeakably wealthy. In the third (Kill and Be Killed, 2016, etc.) in a series of thrillers featuring Jack Dana--Marine hero-turned-bestselling novelist with a sideline of fighting high-level corruption--Begley continues to fall short of the incisive craftsmanship that earned him acclaim with more-literary novels such as About Schmidt (1996). Having dispensed with an evil nemesis at the end of Volume 2, Begley doesn't even bother with a plausible successor or much of a plot. Instead, this is more of a wildly implausible addendum to the last novel, one in which Dana rationally realizes that "dead men don't send messages or stage macabre Punch-and-Judy shows," but he nevertheless finds himself enveloped within a scenario that seems masterminded from the grave. For those who missed the first two installments, the author provides recaps of every significant plot point while reintroducing stock characters such as the Asian manservant Feng, a "former member of the Hong Kong Police Force Special Duty Unit," who would lay down his life for his boss and who is also a gourmet cook who makes a mean martini and is "the picture of Asiatic propriety." Jack's girlfriend is the international-lawyer daughter of a billionaire tycoon, not much interested in men until the comfort she found in Jack's cuddling led to more. A household massacre that reminds everyone of Charles Manson, only worse, proceeds to extortion plots and kidnapping, all apparently designed to flush Jack from his lair of safety. But for what reason? To what end? Jack determines that it is he who will flush them out: "If these people want to have a go at me, let them. I may be able to teach them a lesson." The major lesson learned here is that Begley's crime series has run its course and was an ill-advised detour from its inception.

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June 10, 2019
In Begley’s elegantly written if unsatisfying third crime novel featuring Jack Dana (after 2015’s Killer, Come Hither), bestselling author Jack, a former Marine who was wounded while serving in Afghanistan, doesn’t take the threat of a demented nemesis stalking every corner of his life seriously until it’s too late. Despite a couple of attacks, Jack wonders, “How I would reconcile using the club, riding or hiking in the forest, and other such activities with our need for security was a puzzle I would have to solve.” His adversary, the Monster, wants revenge for the death of his mentor, Abner Brown, from a previous adventure. Extremely talky and populated by stereotypes—loyal girlfriend, stalwart Feds, and the redoubtable Feng, a Chinese houseman, gourmet cook, and bodyguard (shades of Kato, Inspector Clouseau’s servant in The Pink Panther)—the story creeps along until reaching an ending full of wild plot twists that mock the genre. Begley’s insouciant narrator has limited appeal. Fans of serious crime fiction can safely take a pass. Agent: Georges Borchardt, George Borchardt Inc.

May 1, 2019
Begley concludes his crime trilogy (Killer, Come Hither, 2015; Kill and Be Killed, 2016) featuring Captain Jack Dana, an Ivy Leaguer who joined the marines after 9/11, became a best-selling novelist, lost loved ones to vicious killers, and inherited a swanky Fifth Avenue apartment and a swell Sag Harbor beach house. Jack's greatest asset is loyal and multitalented Feng, once a member of a special-ops team in Hong Kong and now, somewhat like Batman's Alfred, Jack's housekeeper, chef, bodyguard, and savior. This installment begins with the insanely gruesome torture and killing of a wealthy couple who were friends of Jack's beloved, murdered uncle, followed by the commandeering of Jack's computer by a revengeful menace issuing dire threats whom Jack?more accurately than he knows?dubs the Monster. Clearly Jack; his corporate-lawyer lover, Heidi; and their adored French bulldog, Satan, are seriously imperiled. Yet Jack takes ridiculous chances whenever he isn't savoring Feng's elaborate gourmet meals and pricey whiskey and wine. A preposterous, if neatly rendered and readily consumed, tale of suspense in which elegance counterbalances horror.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)