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Publisher's Weekly
Doolittle ( Strangle Hold ) drops Boston PI Tom Bethany into a shark tank of S & L looters who gathered under deregulation and slipped through the federal (read Republican) net with the cash clenched in very sharp teeth. Bethany champions four Boston retirees who invested in Sunbanc, a failed Texas savings and loan run by Dr. Denton Somerville, who escaped retribution by dying. Brought up to speed on how the S & L rats operated by Washington contracts from his Carter campaign days, Bethany also learns that without a few hundred lawyers and investigators for as many trials, he has no chance of getting the duffers' money back--legally. Deciding to track the leftover loot anyway, the PI heads for Houston. Posing as a reporter, he interviews memorable locals, happy to spill their guts about the Doc and his widow, Billene, now grieving on her yacht off the coast of Maine with a muscular companion. When his cover is blown, Bethany barely escapes to the rough seas awaiting him in New England. Tension mounts as he closes in and Doolittle deals out some tricky, though not totally unexpected final surprises. A welcome sequel--Bethany is a Travis McGee for the '90s.
Kirkus Reviews
A sharp descent into pulp machismo for Boston's Tom Bethany (Body Scissors; Strangle Hold), who, here, tackles Texas bubbas and Maine rowdies while trying to track the whereabouts of funds that the late Dr. Denton Somerville invested for/bilked from a group of-now hard-pressed-retirees. En route to Houston, the former home base of the doctor, Bethany stops off in Washington for a quick tryst with married girlfriend Hope, then heads on west to interview Somerville associates and learn about his widow, Billene, grieving her way up and down the Atlantic coast in the family yacht with only Glen, a muscular bodyguard/dogsbody, for company. Following in her wake, Bethany encounters the Thornburgh cousins, and, after some heavy punch'-em-up stuff, the boys and Bethany slip aboard Billene's yacht for more mayhem and-no surprise here-the reemergence of the "dead" doctor. Two die, and Billene is almost raped, before Bethany gets the old boys their money back-and arranges a federal comeuppance for the doctor. Much fat-cat bashing and political savvy on S&L scams, but also much more violence than is necessary and a plot that's not much brighter than the Thornburgh cousins.
Genre: Mystery
Doolittle ( Strangle Hold ) drops Boston PI Tom Bethany into a shark tank of S & L looters who gathered under deregulation and slipped through the federal (read Republican) net with the cash clenched in very sharp teeth. Bethany champions four Boston retirees who invested in Sunbanc, a failed Texas savings and loan run by Dr. Denton Somerville, who escaped retribution by dying. Brought up to speed on how the S & L rats operated by Washington contracts from his Carter campaign days, Bethany also learns that without a few hundred lawyers and investigators for as many trials, he has no chance of getting the duffers' money back--legally. Deciding to track the leftover loot anyway, the PI heads for Houston. Posing as a reporter, he interviews memorable locals, happy to spill their guts about the Doc and his widow, Billene, now grieving on her yacht off the coast of Maine with a muscular companion. When his cover is blown, Bethany barely escapes to the rough seas awaiting him in New England. Tension mounts as he closes in and Doolittle deals out some tricky, though not totally unexpected final surprises. A welcome sequel--Bethany is a Travis McGee for the '90s.
Kirkus Reviews
A sharp descent into pulp machismo for Boston's Tom Bethany (Body Scissors; Strangle Hold), who, here, tackles Texas bubbas and Maine rowdies while trying to track the whereabouts of funds that the late Dr. Denton Somerville invested for/bilked from a group of-now hard-pressed-retirees. En route to Houston, the former home base of the doctor, Bethany stops off in Washington for a quick tryst with married girlfriend Hope, then heads on west to interview Somerville associates and learn about his widow, Billene, grieving her way up and down the Atlantic coast in the family yacht with only Glen, a muscular bodyguard/dogsbody, for company. Following in her wake, Bethany encounters the Thornburgh cousins, and, after some heavy punch'-em-up stuff, the boys and Bethany slip aboard Billene's yacht for more mayhem and-no surprise here-the reemergence of the "dead" doctor. Two die, and Billene is almost raped, before Bethany gets the old boys their money back-and arranges a federal comeuppance for the doctor. Much fat-cat bashing and political savvy on S&L scams, but also much more violence than is necessary and a plot that's not much brighter than the Thornburgh cousins.
Genre: Mystery
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