Rating: 
Summary: Terrific!
Review: If you enjoy the work of Philip Margolin, John Sandford,John Connolly or Michael Connelly, you'll love G.M. Ford's Frank Corso series. He is so much better than James Patterson has become. Other reviewers have discussed the plot which is well drawn. The real mystery is why this author doesn't make the bestseller lists. He should.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific!
Review: If you enjoy the work of Philip Margolin, John Sandford,John Connolly or Michael Connelly, you'll love G.M. Ford's Frank Corso series. He is so much better than James Patterson has become. Other reviewers have discussed the plot which is well drawn. The real mystery is why this author doesn't make the bestseller lists. He should.
Rating: 
Summary: still a fun ride
Review: One of the pleasures of reading Ford's books is the sheer strength of his writing. This is true whether he is being deadly serious or wryly humorous, as he was in his previous series. While he is a 'no frills' writer, he accomplishes his goal by having an unerring sense of the proper word or construct. In this story, the sequel to Fury, we again meet up with Frank Corso, a journalist who lost his cachet when he wrote a story based on falsified evidence. Since that time he has moved to Seattle where his determination has found him a new job and let him reestablish himself as a newsman and a writer. He has been allowed to sit in on the trial of Nicholas Balagula, a ruthless crime boss who has never been brought to justice. But when photojournalist Meg Dougherty, Corso's closest friend is suddenly attacked and very nearly killed a different kind of trial emerges, with Corso sitting in the judge's seat. A tangled web of loose connections sends Corso down the dark side of the city, tracking down hired killers, builders, and janitors to find what Meg saw that put her in a hospital. Corso isn't a genius, but a determined seeker who can eventually work his was through the toughest knot. Although this time what he doesn't know very nearly kills him. As always, Ford's characters a gem-like. While the bad guys are 'bad,' the good guys aren't angels, and individual idiosyncrasies bring them all to life. The main characters do develop, but slowly. It has taken Corso two novels to move from his initial bitterness to a dark cynicism. For all that Meg is unconscious for most of the book, she has changed the most, which brings out the best and the worst of Corso's character. Like a typical shallow fan, I wasn't all that comfortable when Ford switched from Leo Waterman. I had gotten used to the humorous antics of the alcoholic bums who made up Waterman's investigatory team. But Corso is a compelling character, and this new series may very well be closer to what Ford really wanted to accomplish. In any case, I think you will find Black River great entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Buried in Concrete
Review: One of the pleasures of reading Ford's books is the sheer strength of his writing. This is true whether he is being deadly serious or wryly humorous, as he was in his previous series. While he is a 'no frills' writer, he accomplishes his goal by having an unerring sense of the proper word or construct. In this story, the sequel to Fury, we again meet up with Frank Corso, a journalist who lost his cachet when he wrote a story based on falsified evidence. Since that time he has moved to Seattle where his determination has found him a new job and let him reestablish himself as a newsman and a writer. He has been allowed to sit in on the trial of Nicholas Balagula, a ruthless crime boss who has never been brought to justice. But when photojournalist Meg Dougherty, Corso's closest friend is suddenly attacked and very nearly killed a different kind of trial emerges, with Corso sitting in the judge's seat. A tangled web of loose connections sends Corso down the dark side of the city, tracking down hired killers, builders, and janitors to find what Meg saw that put her in a hospital. Corso isn't a genius, but a determined seeker who can eventually work his was through the toughest knot. Although this time what he doesn't know very nearly kills him. As always, Ford's characters a gem-like. While the bad guys are 'bad,' the good guys aren't angels, and individual idiosyncrasies bring them all to life. The main characters do develop, but slowly. It has taken Corso two novels to move from his initial bitterness to a dark cynicism. For all that Meg is unconscious for most of the book, she has changed the most, which brings out the best and the worst of Corso's character. Like a typical shallow fan, I wasn't all that comfortable when Ford switched from Leo Waterman. I had gotten used to the humorous antics of the alcoholic bums who made up Waterman's investigatory team. But Corso is a compelling character, and this new series may very well be closer to what Ford really wanted to accomplish. In any case, I think you will find Black River great entertainment.
Rating:
Summary: Another compelling read featuring Frank Corso
Review: The nefarious business practices of crime boss Nicholas Balagula: fraud, extortion, and falsified bids, caused the death of 63 people including 41 children when a minor seismic disturbance collapsed the wall of the Fairmont Hospital. Possible jury tampering, intimidation, and the fortuitous deaths of witnesses have kept Balagula from spending the rest of his notoriously immoral life in prison. But federal prosecutors may have a turned a witness, someone who can testify to Balagula's direct involvement in the disaster. Granted status as the only nonparticipant allowed at the trial, Frank Corso, reclusive author of popular true-crime novels is forced back into the public eye amid media speculation that he is consulting for the prosecution. Then Corso's insulated life is thrown into chaos when his ex-lover Meg Dougherty, while pursuing an investigation of her own, is involved in a car accident that leaves her battered and bloody body hanging to life by a thread. Pursuing justice for his one, best friend while following the course of the trial Corso is pulled into the muck of a black river of deceit, corruption, and murder.
Ford's latest bad guy isn't as reprehensible as Corso's previous foe, the Trashman, but perhaps he just seems less disgusting because we're exposed to reports of unethical business practices in the news so often. Hospitals and homes are lined up along the San Andreas Fault as we read. Balagula's method to find the members of an anonymous, sequestered jury would make a market researcher proud. And even the most competent of employees will have bad days: finding the guy you're to hit already dead, buried bodies floating to the river's surface, taking out the wrong people. I almost felt sorry for these two killers. The flow of the Black River of the title is disrupted by progress, but "it's a river's nature to remain a river." As Balagula proclaims his innocence the progress of his criminal empire continues to flow. But even a criminal empire runs into obstacles now and then.
G. M. Ford has once again provided a compelling journey into the world of crime and fascinating look into the complex personality of one of fiction's newest heroes.
Rating:
Summary: Great new protagonist from GM Ford.
Review: The protagonist in G.M. Ford's Seattle based 'Black River' is Frank Corso, a hard boiled, paradoxical true crime writer. He has a strong sense of right and wrong in the Sam Spade manner. In 'Black River' the government is trying for the third time to nail known criminal and pedophile Nicholas Belagula for bribery. Witnesses and inspectors keep turning up dead. After Corso connects seemingly unrelated events (murders) including one that strikes close to home---everything circumstantially points to Belagula. Corso unearths a paper trail that verifies the connection. Turning an insider is all that's needed to convict Belagula. G.M. Ford, an excellent storyteller, gives you a nonstop, rapidly moving plot with well-developed characters. Once I got all the players clearly identified, it was impossible to put the book down. A couple of the bad guys are Elmore Leonardish, and the primary villains are absolutely loathsome. The appearance of the US Attorney General was a bit much and the ending too neat and tidy---but the ride to the conclusion was thrilling. Do not miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: Great new protagonist from GM Ford.
Review: The protagonist in G.M. Ford�s Seattle based �Black River� is Frank Corso, a hard boiled, paradoxical true crime writer. He has a strong sense of right and wrong in the Sam Spade manner. In �Black River� the government is trying for the third time to nail known criminal and pedophile Nicholas Belagula for bribery. Witnesses and inspectors keep turning up dead. After Corso connects seemingly unrelated events (murders) including one that strikes close to home---everything circumstantially points to Belagula. Corso unearths a paper trail that verifies the connection. Turning an insider is all that�s needed to convict Belagula. G.M. Ford, an excellent storyteller, gives you a nonstop, rapidly moving plot with well-developed characters. Once I got all the players clearly identified, it was impossible to put the book down. A couple of the bad guys are Elmore Leonardish, and the primary villains are absolutely loathsome. The appearance of the US Attorney General was a bit much and the ending too neat and tidy---but the ride to the conclusion was thrilling. Do not miss this one.
Rating:
Summary: one sitting pleasurable ride
Review: Though a very tiny earthquake occurred along the San Andreas fault that hardly registered on the Richter scale, the damage to the newly built Fairmont Hospital left sixty-three people dead, forty of them children. It was discovered that the building was not built to specifications because the builders skimped on earthquake prevention fortifications by bribing building officials and inspectors to sign off that it met the code. The prosecution says that known criminal Nicholas Balagula was the mastermind behind the tragedy that led to the calamity. The Feds brought him to trial twice and failed to get a conviction. Now they are trying again and true crime writer Frank Corso is the only journalist allowed to witness the proceedings. Corso wants to see justice served but the case abruptly becomes personal when his ex-girlfriend is almost killed by two goons in the pay of Balagula. G.M. Ford is an excellent writer who tells quite a story. His enigmatic protagonist is a likable chap content with being alone. Still he strives to do the right thing for the only person who means anything to him while not expecting any payment or even a return favor. The interesting plot is filled with unexpected yet reasonable twists and turns that compels the audience to drive this vehicle in a one sitting pleasurable ride. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Dark and Deep!
Review: While better known for his Leo Waterman series, G. M. Ford has begun an interesting new series featuring the reclusive Frank Corso. First seen in Fury, Frank Corso is back and as dark as ever. Since this novel picks up approximately seven months after events depicted in Fury and refers to those events repeatedly throughout this novel, I would strongly urge prospective readers to read Fury first before reading this novel. It simply isn't possible to review this novel without giving away a few details, which would be better covered in their entirety in Fury. Having said that, I am simplifying greatly the plot and storyline to keep out as much as possible for those unfamiliar with the previous novel. For years, the government has chased the Russian mobster Nicholas Balagula through one trial after another with no success. Balagula sees United States justice as a game-a game where he has always won by jury tampering, violent intimidation and the murder of witnesses. Now, he is on trial once again. This time, he is being tried for the deaths of 63 people who lost their lives in a hospital building collapse. The trail has been moved from California up to Seattle and extraordinary measures are being taken to protect the safety and integrity of the jury and the case. Frank Corso is the only non-participant allowed to attend the murder trial of Balagula. His well-publicized notoriety and connections gets him unlimited access and he hopes to turn the project into another one of his true crime books. While he wants another success on his hands, he also wants the government to win. At the same time, with a grandstanding golden boy of the United States Attorney's Office in charge, Warren Klein, he has his doubts whether they can do the job. It looks like his suspicions are correct as from the beginning the trial things begin to go wrong and like most golden boys of one stripe or another, Klein blames everyone else for his mistakes. While his suspicions concerning the case have been initially confirmed, Corso isn't really paying attention. His old flame and very special friend, Meg Dougherty, is in intensive care in the hospital. Apparently in her occupation as a photojournalist, she witnessed something so horrendous that she drove her car under a parked semi in a desperate attempt to get away that nearly resulted in her death. Corso wants to find out what she saw as well as clearing himself from the suspect list as the police seemed convinced that he had some hand in her near death. Frank Corso is an interesting and hard to define character. This novel reveals a little more about his personality and what drives him while at the same time managing to hide a tremendous amount behind his darkly complex personae. As in his other books, a certain sense of darkness and moral decay pervades the work. Full of interesting complex characters, tight writing and multiple themes make this another good read. Once again, he provides a journey where justice is not an absolute black and white stereotype, but shades of gray. G. M. Ford's books are never simplistic stories with two-dimensional characters but complicated stories featuring multidimensional characters and shades of moral nuance. As always, this is another one of his books well worth reading.
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