Too Close to Home

November 25, 2019
Grant’s engrossing sequel to 2019’s Invisible finds former U.S. Army intelligence operative Paul McGrath employed as a janitor at a New York County courthouse, where he stealthily searches for evidence to convict the man he holds responsible for his father’s death. Alex Pardew, the crooked business partner of McGrath’s late father, walked out of court a free man after a mistrial was declared because an evidence file had gone missing. Now, having located the file, McGrath needs to ascertain what evidence has been removed, who took it, and why. Ably assisted by John Robson, his old Army buddy, McGrath uses his talents to investigate an array of contemptible government officials, including a lawyer, a judge, a clerk, and a retired detective, as well as track down Pardew and determine his culpability. In a diverting subplot, a bankrupt businessman seeks retribution against a ruthless venture capitalist for his losses. The fast-moving plot includes a neat twist. With any luck, Grant’s righteous hero will have a long career cleaning up corruption and meting out his own brand of justice. Agent: Richard Pine, InkWell Management.

December 15, 2019
The second in the Paul McGrath suspense series (Invisible, 2019), in which the protagonist mops floors and pursues unofficial justice in a federal courthouse. McGrath is a 20-year veteran of Army intelligence, and his current job as a nearly invisible janitor gives him free rein to go places in the building that are closed to the public. A New York politician abuses his office, and McGrath threatens to toss him off a roof unless he agrees to make amends to people he's hurt. "My name's not important," McGrath says. "I'm just a janitor. Here to clean up the mess you made. One way. Or another." But mainly, he is at the courthouse to figure out how to deliver justice to Alex Pardew, who cheated McGrath's father and likely contributed to the old man's early death. Key to resolving that issue is finding a missing file that could have turned Pardew's mistrial into a conviction. Oh yes, and he needs to find Pardew himself, not an easy task. Along the way, he chats up Len Hendrie, who wants to represent himself in an arson case--Hendrie readily admits to burning a house down as revenge for losing his own home in a stockbroker's short-selling scheme. Characters clearly explain the short-selling concept, so the reader won't need a business degree to follow the chicanery involved. McGrath relies on "old habits--old instincts, always looking for something sinister," which he fears may not be serving him well this time. But he's smart, determined, decent, and not all that violent as fictional heroes go. And yet that Albany pol knows he'll one day be a red splat on a sidewalk if he reneges on his vow to reform. Crisp pacing, complex plotting, and a sympathetic good guy all make for a most satisfying read. Grant has several great series going, and the janitor-in-the-courthouse theme is fodder for another.

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December 15, 2019
Paul McGrath is a courthouse janitor. In an earlier incarnation, he was an intelligence agent. His downward career path isn't accidental. He wants access to court documents he feels will implicate the man, Alex Pardew, McGrath is sure killed his father. While moving about in a virtual cloak of invisibility, McGrath stumbles upon another case involving a financial predator who preyed upon middle-class families in order to enhance his personal fortune. McGrath is cynical but even he is shocked by the level of greed and depravity on the dark side of the financial world, beyond the headlines of Wall Street corruption. His quest is complicated when he learns that his father had numerous secrets, not all of them admirable. McGrath also examines his own motives. Is he comfortable being a lawless avenging angel, or does the law and conventional justice have value for him? This is Grant's ninth thriller, and it's a very good one, suspense tempered throughout with moral dilemmas. An intelligent, exciting novel.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)