Fatal Harbor

March 3, 2014
DuBois’s absorbing eighth Lewis Cole mystery picks up where 2011’s Deadly Cove left off. In the previous book, Cole’s friend and police contact, Diana Woods, was beaten into a life-threatening coma when a protest against a nuclear power plant in Tyler, N.H., grew violent and protesters attacked a police line. Cole blames the man who instigated the violence, Curt Chesak, a shadowy government operative seeking to subvert the protestors in the interest of rival energy concerns. Cole’s quarry possesses enormous assets, but Cole makes up for his own lone-wolf status with wily moves and an indomitable will to achieve justice. DuBois’s laconic style nicely matches the somber subject matter, and is lightened by his main character’s winning intelligence, courage in adversity, and wit. Cole’s dogged pursuit leads him to unexpected allies, while his unwillingness to compromise renews some relationships from the past and destroys others. The action builds to a rousing climax in the New Hampshire woods. Agent: Nat Sobel, Sobel Weber Associates.

April 15, 2014
Lewis Cole is determined to get the anti-nuclear activist who put his best friend in a coma. And not just to send him to prison. Lewis was on the scene at the Falconer nuclear plant when a demonstration run amok claimed three and a half lives. The half was that of Diane Woods, of the Tyler Police Department, whom Curt Chesak, leader of the Nuclear Freedom Front, beat with an iron pipe. Unfortunately, the reclusive Chesak's guilt is a lot clearer than his whereabouts. Professor Heywood Knowlton, his friend and mentor at Boston University, sneers that he wouldn't tell Lewis where Chesak was even if he knew. Lawrence Todd Thomas, the retired D.C. analyst whose son was another Falconer casualty, is eager to help, but he can't locate Chesak either. So Lewis is left with no one but his buddy Felix Tinios for company as he beats the bushes looking for Chesak. But as an ex-Defense Department intelligence analyst, he's not only ruthless about meting out rough justice, but resourceful in finding his prey. When he gets warned off the case by his sometime-girlfriend, Annie Wynn, and by Detective Pete Renzi of the New Hampshire State Police, Lewis thinks twice, but both thoughts are bloody. Unlike the Corleone family, Lewis doesn't think it's just business; it's definitely personal. It's also definitely incomplete. This sequel probably should have been published as Part 2 of Deadly Cove (2011), which presented the Falconer demonstration up close and personal. Unless you're still as haunted as Lewis is by the events of Part 1, you may think you're walking into the less-interesting half of a single tale.

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April 1, 2014

Lewis Cole, retired as an analyst for the Department of Defense, won't back down when his friend is gravely injured during an antinuclear demonstration. DuBois's eighth case (after Deadly Cove) promises plenty of fast-paced action for the vigilante hero.

Copyright 2014 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2014
DuBois' hero, Lewis Cole, has a suitably shadowy background. Once a government analyst, he moves about with hints of powers in reserve. He's on a mission of vengeance here. A policewoman friend was beaten during a protest outside a nuclear plant, and Cole is hunting the radical responsible. As he closes in, so do men with Glocks and thick necks, and the mystery moves to another level. DuBois's smooth style and fine sense of pace make the stock elements bearable, even enjoyable. There's the elegant friendthink Win in Harlan Coben's Bolitar novelswho shows up to help out when things get really dodgy, and there's the highly placed government man who owes Cole a favor and pays back at just the right time. The Marxist professor pal of the radicals is too much, though, calling a hurt cop a symbol of the corporate oligarchy . . . what happened to her was a just response to oppression. Do they really talk like that? Still, this is a well-made and satisfying thriller.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)