Shaker

November 16, 2015
Screenwriter Frank’s well-plotted first novel will remind readers of Tom Wolfe’s novel The Bonfire of the Vanities. Hit man Roy Cooper flies from New York to Los Angeles to kill someone five days after L.A. suffers a major earthquake. The hit goes smoothly, but as Roy is searching for his rental car in North Hollywood, he sees three street kids, “none older than fourteen, fifteen tops,” taunting an old man in an alley. Roy intervenes, but he can’t prevent a kid armed with a .25 from shooting the man dead. The murder is caught on video, and the identity of the victim—a mayoral candidate viewed as a legitimate force for reform—gives Roy, who was wounded in the encounter, a higher profile than he’d like. Frank integrates Roy’s story, complete with flashbacks, with that of Science, one of the young thugs, and of Kelly Maguire, an LAPD officer with a reputation for racism, along the way revealing their inner lives in impressive psychological detail. Agent: Andrew Wylie, Wylie Agency.

Listeners who are prepared to suspend reality for a bit will love this thriller. The audiobook begins with Roy Cooper, a hit man for various mobsters who casually carries out another assignment in LA. But on the way back to his parked car, he stumbles into the murder of a jogger by some gang members, which he somehow manages to get in the middle of. The story takes a series of satisfying twists and turns as Cooper finds himself in the hospital, pronounced a hero by all. Dion Graham's narration is spot-on. From the initial victim's pleas for mercy to the dramatic murder of the jogger, who turns out to be a politician, Graham brings every character to life and adeptly handles Frank's tight dialogue. Adding to the book's charm is the cast of characters, highlighted by Graham's memorable portrayal of "Science," one of the teenagers who shot the politician. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine