The Son of John Devlin

Starred review from January 4, 1999
Deception, greed and betrayal drive this well-plotted, moving thriller. Rough-edged but appealing Jack Devlin, a Harvard Law grad who's now a detective with the Boston police, has been assigned to covertly investigate suspected corruption in the BPD ranks. Devlin knows about dirty cops--his father killed himself when he was accused of bribery, a disgrace his son has never lived down. In fact, the influence of the past permeates and corrodes the events at the heart of this stunning story. For a while, Devlin's investigation seems linked with Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Lawrence's probe of a giant morphine deal involving a former state legislator, and Devlin plays a dicey double game with Lawrence as he falls in love with her bold, canny beauty. But when Devlin finds a letter his father wrote just before his suicide, his anger, shame and devotion set him on a parallel investigation--to uncover the truth behind his father's dishonorable death. All investigations, the corrupt and courageous, converge in the powerful ending, in which readers understand that nothing is as it has seemed. Filled with tough, poignant portraits, disappearing evidence, suspenseful stakeouts and unexpected plot twists, Kenney's (Code of Vengeance) thriller is also distinguished by the author's compassion for his characters.