The Codicil

Rating:
Summary: SHOCKS, SHIVERS, AND A SATISFYING CONCLUSION
Review: If you begin this rapid fire thriller in the evening, be prepared to stay up late. Screenwriter Topor has woven a realistic package of twists and surprises that is hard to put down.

When wealthy Matthew Marshall dies, the heirs to his $100 million dollar estate, his wife and three children, find that a codicil has been added to his will. Marshall is bequeathing half his estate to a child they never knew existed, a child he fathered in Vietnam. During his last visit to Vietnam, Marshall had tried without success to find Cricket, the child's mother.

Savvy, street smart private detective Alan Bruno is hired by the estate's attorney to find the child. As he begins to discover Marshall's life over the past 30 years and his Vietnamese connection, Bruno is stymied with each new lead. He is aided in his search by a Puerto Rican-Vietnamese interpreter, who finds more information in old letters than words would indicate.

Suspense builds as the plot escalates. After a stunning parade of shocks and shivers, Topor skillfully ochestrates a satisfying conclusion.

Rating:
Summary: Great Story
Review: This book was recommended by a former Peace Corps volunteer,my friend Rhonda. I cannot thank her enough. I found it to be engrossing and very interesting. I hated to finish it. I wanted the story to go on and on. I always do that with books I really enjoy. I liked all the characters. They seemed believable and as far as the foul language goes, just visit any shopping center or public place and you'll hear much worse. Sorry if it offends you, but that's how society speaks; it's realistic. I would not have minded if it were twice as long as it is. My only problem is the attitude of the characters related to the Vietnam era and their reactions to the war. I am a Nam vet myself and I have none of those negative attitudes. I think the book would have been more representative if all the ex-Nam era people had different outlooks and opinions instead of the same attitudes. I heartily recommend this book to anyone looking for a good read. I look forward to the next Topor book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent action and pace.
Review: This one has been sitting on my shelf for years as I never picked up any buzz on it. After reading it, I wish he had more novels for me to discover.

It has a great pace, and fits somewhat into the cat and mouse category. The search and chase for the info leads protagonist Adam Bruno across the country, back in time and in contact with a wide array of potential leads. It is easy to follow the logical pattern. The procedure is clearly delineated and makes sense.

The characters were cleverly drawn and it was no problem to cheer for Adam Bruno. He showed street smarts, resourcefulness and imagination; tinged with just enough sarcasm directed at his smug adversarial employer.

I did not find it excessively gory or profane. People who have been thru what many of "The Codicil"'s characters experienced do express themselves in this fashion. I found it realistic and not overdone.

It is truly a page turner that took less than a weekend to read. Great stuff!!!

Rating:
Summary: A suspenseful hunt for a secret child
Review: Topor's legal thriller has a straightforward plot that never loses its momentum.

With virtually nothing to go on, and $50 million at stake, lawyer-turned-investigator Adam Bruno is hired to find the Vietnamese child of a former American captain.

The former soldier, Matthew Marshall, returned home to become a telecommunications tycoon worth $100 million. Nothing was known of any illegitimate child until the codicil to his will, made recently and unknown to the partners of his heavy-hitting law firm, comes to light when Marshall dies suddenly of a stroke at his country retreat. The codicil, devastating to Marshall's widow and three spoiled children, provides that the original bequests stand if the Vietnamese child can be proved dead or back in Vietnam.

Marshall, a man of vast charm and many women, led a compartmentalized life - his home, the cabin where he went to be solitary, and the secret but long-term New York apartment where he brought his various women. None of his friends or his family recall any mention of his Vietnam experiences, though he did take his children to the Wall in Washington.

But, visiting Marshall's country retreat, off-limits to family and friends, Bruno encounters a dangerously crazy Vietnam vet, bristling with weapons and paranoia, who guards Marshall's empty home. And Bruno finds a room dedicated to photos and memorabilia of Vietnam. The people in the photographs are identified only by nicknames and as Bruno begins the painstaking process of identification, most of them seem to be dead. Those still living insist Marshall, upright and married, would never have had anything to do with a Vietnamese woman.

Running into one stone wall after another, Bruno's case gets a sudden shot of adrenaline when he receives, anonymously, a letter in Vietnamese, written to Marshall by a Vietnamese man who clearly was searching for the missing woman and child.

Slowly, doggedly, Bruno pieces together a dark and painful story, crisscrossing the country by jet and computer. Despite setbacks, false trails and dangerous developments, he digs through layers of lies and complex connections. And, naturally, the family back in New York would like to see him fail and will stop at nothing - perhaps not even homicide - to preserve their inheritance and the power they've come to think is theirs by right.

While there's nothing particularly original about the story, Topor's straightforward style suits his narrator protagonist - a resourceful, clever, determined fellow, a loner with very individual but firm scruples. Bruno is likable and only ruthless when nothing less will satisfy. A page turner.