The Motive

Rating:
Summary: Lescroart Gets Better and Better
Review: Besides the fact that John Lescroart's books are set in San Francisco where I used to live, I think it is his character development that make his books so good. Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitksy bring a sense of humor, intelligence and characterization more complex than usually found in mystery stories. The story is, of course, a murder story. It's complex enough that the heros have all kinds of struggles including evaluating their own lives, families and position in the community.

Over his sixteen books he has developed his stories and his characters to a level rarely seen. This is a great addition to his library.


Rating:
Summary: An engrossing tale that will not soon be forgotten
Review: I cannot imagine anybody picking up one of John Lescroart's novels, such as last year's THE SECOND CHAIR or the just-published THE MOTIVE, without reading from beginning to end in one sitting and then taking steps to obtain his backlist. He is that good.

If you are unfamiliar with Lescroart's work, permit me to take a minute of your time to make the introduction. The majority of Lescroart's novels are set in San Francisco, a city that appears to be on its last legs due to a lack of adult supervision of several decades' duration. The focus of the novels is on Dismas Hardy and, more recently, Abe Glitsky. Like the city where they live, Hardy and Glitsky are a study in contrasts. Hardy is a former policeman, presently a very successful defense attorney; Glitsky is the Deputy Chief of Inspectors of the San Francisco Police Department. Hardy is lace curtain Irish, and not without humor, with Glitsky more often than not being his target. Glitsky is of mixed heritage --- his father is Jewish, his mother African-American --- with a grim and taciturn demeanor. The two men are good friends, though their common ground is not immediately evident. Yet their friendship works and more often than not becomes the motivation for them to cross the lines of their respective roles to achieve a common purpose.

This is the case with THE MOTIVE, beginning with a fire that is a smokescreen for a double homicide. The victims are a politically connected lobbyist who is being considered for a U.S. Cabinet position and his beautiful, enigmatic fiancée. The mayor of San Francisco quietly interjects herself into the investigation, asking that Glitsky take it over. This immediately creates a problem, as Glitsky and Dan Cuneo, the detective already assigned to the case, have an adversarial relationship. Things become even worse, however, when Cuneo's inverted pyramid style of investigation --- choose a suspect, then find the evidence --- leads him to Catherine Hanover, the daughter-in-law of one of the victims and the former girlfriend of Dismas Hardy. When Hardy agrees to defend Hanover, it appears that Glitsky and the mayor are involved in a cover-up. Glitsky, however, is concerned not only with establishing Hanover's innocence but also with discovering the true identity of the murderer --- a concern that ultimately puts him in grave danger.

As always, Lescroart's plotting is impeccable. The beginning and end of THE MOTIVE are given over primarily, but not exclusively, to investigation, with the middle of the book focused primarily, but not entirely, on Hardy's courtroom strategies. Yet Lescroart brings his protagonists together seamlessly, and also switches story tracks just before one begins to get played out. Along the way Lescroart quietly paints a picture of contemporary San Francisco, a city of contrasts where the beauty without belies the quiet decay within. The result is an engrossing tale that will not soon be forgotten.

Lescroart continues to build an intriguing and imposing bibliography. If you are as yet unfamiliar with his work, go to your bookshelves and make lots of room. After reading THE MOTIVE, you will need it.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Rating:
Summary: As Always - A Compelling Read
Review: John Lescroart delivers another winner in his Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky series. Echoes of the past hang over their heads concerning the death of a SF police officer as they find themselves being drawn into the investigation of what is first thought to be a murder/suicide/arson investigation and which soon turns into a double murder/arson.

Glitsky is asked to get involved by the Mayor. The only problem with that is this is not the chain of command. The Inspector in charge is not amused and in fact feels threatened by the interfearance, with interesting results.

Hardy gets involved because a woman who has become the prime suspect of the police investigator assigned to the case is a former lover/friend and seeks his services when the focus of the investigation turns to her.

The trial that ensues is well drawn, but only part of the story is told there. To say more would reveal too much, except to say that I have no problem with how the author decided to end this story. It is true to the facts presented and true to the characters of those who carry the action.

I continue to wait for this author's next effort, as he has never failed to produce a compelling read.

Rating:
Summary: Close but no cigar.
Review: John Lescroart's new legal thriller, "The Motive," once again features Dismas Hardy, criminal defense attorney extraordinaire, and his good friend, Abe Glitsky, who is now deputy chief of inspectors in the San Francisco Police Department. Hardy and Glitsky both become involved in an ugly case of double homicide and arson. Apparently the wealthy and influential Paul Hanover and his girlfriend, Michelle (Missy) D'Amiens, were both shot in the head in their new home. Subsequently, the killer torched the house and the victims' bodies were burned beyond recognition.

The mayor of San Francisco, Kathy West, asks Abe to look into the case on her behalf. Abe's interference infuriates Dan Cuneo, who is the official investigator, and Cuneo resolves to find the killer quickly without Abe's input. Dismas Hardy gets into the mix because of an old girlfriend who begs him for legal assistance. On its face, this seems to be an open and shut case of greed and revenge. After all, Paul Hanover was threatening to give his considerable fortune to his new trophy wife, leaving nothing to his ex-wife, three grown children, and their families. Wouldn't Hanover's family have the most compelling motive to kill Paul before he changed his will in favor of Missy?

Lescroart does a masterful job of setting up his characters and plot. "The Motive" is a lively mix of political machinations, police procedure, courtroom drama, and an examination of the characters' personal lives. Although the book is four-hundred pages long, it moves quickly and holds the reader's interest throughout.

Alas, Lescroart falls victim to the bugaboo of thriller writers, the "absurd ending syndrome." Without giving away anything, I will merely say that "The Motive" ultimately falls flat because of startling revelations out of left field that make little sense. Still, most of the novel is compelling, exciting, and intense drama, and I give Lescroart four stars for almost pulling it off.


Rating:
Summary: Gripping to the end
Review: John Lescroart's The Motive grabs the reader on the first page and never let's go. Not being a diehard Lescroart fan, I picked up The Motive because I didn't have anything else to read. My previous experience with Lescroart's fiction is restricted to Sunburn and The Vig. I don't remember any of the specifics of those books, but I do remember not being impressed. I must say, however, that The Motive may put Lescroart firmly on my must read list.

Two bodies are discovered in an obvious arson fire. They are the bodies of Paul Hanover and his steady sweet heart Missy D'Amiens and they didn't die in the fire. Detective Cuneo is called in to investigate and it isn't long before his ineptness becomes obvious. To get a handle on the case the Mayor calls in Abe Glitsky. Dismas Hardy becomes involved when he is asked by Catherine Hanover (an old flame from his college days) when she is targeted by the police as a primary suspect. The best part of this book is watching Glitsky and Hardy work their magic.

The Motive, as other reviewers have pointed out is a great "who done it" and a terrific courtroom drama all rolled into one.
Trust me, you'll read this book quickly.





Rating:
Summary: Lescroart Does It Again!
Review: Some authors seem to run out of energy when writing series books with the same characters, but not John Lescroart. Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky are back in another engrossing story. This book does not concentrate wholly on Dismas, and we learn more of Abe and his family. Don't worry, there is a murder case in which both are involved, among others. The Hardy/Glitsky books are not templates of each other; each has its own personality and The Motive is right up there with the best!

Rating:
Summary: Top of the line thriller ... again
Review: Stories full of gritty, realistic characters. Plots that hurtle forward at breakneck speed. Unpredictable twists, even for silverback mystery readers ... John Lescroart is quite simply one of the most underappreciated best-sellers in American letters today. His Dismas Hardy/Abe Glitsky series is as sharp as Turow and Grisham, and "The Motive" does nothing to dim the light that rightfully shines on his work. There should be more. If you haven't yet picked up a Lescroart crime fiction, "The Motive" isn't a bad place to start.

Rating:
Summary: (4 1/2) The Diz and Abe Saga Continues
Review: THE MOTIVE, the latest installment in the excellent series of legal thrillers/police procedurals by John Lescroart, is an excellent sequel to the two previous stories in the series. THE FIRST LAW (review 2/9/2003) was a completely atypical story in the series - it involved an incident that would unavoidably alter the relationship of attorney Dismas (Diz) Hardy and Deputy Police Chief Abraham (Abe) Glitsky forever as well as create a significant inflection point in both of their lives and careers. THE SECOND CHAIR (review 4/22/2004) involves Hardy's initial attempts to regain his personal and professional balance in the wake of that incident. In that novel, Hardy agrees to act as second chair to one of his young associates who is tempted to engage in a plea bargain for her young client in view of the apparently overwhelming evidence which the SFPD has assembled.

This story begins with a case of arson which Arnie Becker, the lead arson investigator, quickly determines also involves a doulble homicide. The victims (although burned beyond visual recognition) are eventually determined by the coroner to be Paul Hanover, a wealthy socialite with excellent political connections, and his fiancee Michelle (Missy) D'Amiens. Dan Cuneo is the homicide detective immediately assigned to investigate the murders. However, Mayor Kathy West is deeply concerned about the murder of her friend and large campaign contributor Hanover and asks Glitsky to conduct a parallel investigation of the case to ensure that it is solved as rapidly as possible.This puts Glitsky in an incredibly difficult position, not only because of the breach of normal department protocol (even though approved by the Chief), but also because despite the fact that the official police investigation had confirmed the alibis of Glitsky and Hardy in the violent shootout (described in THE FIRST LAW) in which several policemen were killed, Detective Cuneo correctly remains extremely suspicious that they had played a significant role. Cuneo soon decides that Catherine Hanover, Paul's daughter-in-law who he had first met at the scene of the fire, is his chief suspect; he discovers that not only did she lie about her alibi and thus had the opportunity to commit the crime, she also had both the means and THE MOTIVE.

Glitsky believes that several leads have not been adequately pursued but hesitates to fuel Cuneo's resentment by actively investigating the case further. (He is also distracted by a personal emergency which threatens to completely disrupt his wonderful relationship with Treya, his new wife.) However, Glitsky's attempts to placate Cuneo and deflect his interest in attempting to locate new evidence in the Gerson affair are completely undone when Hardy, after an agonizing appraisal of the situation, agrees to represent Catherine Hanover. This decision not only raises the political stakes in the case, but also seems certain to cause a breach in his relationship with Glitsky, who has become increasingly fearful that Cuneo will see any further investigative attempts by Abe as proof of the fact that his personal relationship with Diz is sufficiently strong to cause them to attempt to subvert the law.

While the the author provides enough background for this novel to be very enjoyable as a standalone read, it probably deserves no more than four stars on that basis. The emotion evoked by THE FIRST LAW is so raw that no summary can completely capture its intensity; thus while I actually did not rate that story as highly as THE MOTIVE, I strongly suggest that it be read first. While THE SECOND CHAIR is a transition story and is not essential background for this book, I nevertheless highly recommend it. As readers of Lescroart's work know, his character development is excellent and an integral part of the success of this series. The characters age as the series proceeds; their kids grow up, spouses die (as has happened to both Diz and Abe), and close friends can get shockingly murdered. Some cops are heroes and some are crooked, many are dedicated to the truth and avenging the victims but a few such as Cuneo have their own agenda. This is a worthy entry in the series, although the police work is often shoddy (including some of Glitsky's efforts), the courtroom scenes are riveting. Finally, while many readers will probably guess various elements of the murder plot; there is enough misdirection to keep the reader interested and Glitsky's dectective work at the end of the story leads to an unexpected twist that ties together the loose ends while providing a truly bittersweet conclusion.

Tucker Andersen

Rating:
Summary: Fine thriller with but one missing ingredient
Review: This novel has all of the basic elements of a thriller: the police inter-departmental rivalry, love / sex / affair complication, high courtroom drama, and suspicions of cover-up / incompetence. It's polished, it moves, it involves. The writing is terse, the plot-line ever-evolving, and highly informative. Only minus I found with this book--and, yes, I'm afraid it's a big one--is the contrived ending. To me, the trip toward the close of a book's story line should be inextricably woven throughout said story--all the way--building toward it from the very first chapter. Too many of today's thriller novels, I find, have a climax that seems to have been plucked out of thin air, or hastily hatched for shock value alone, whimsical afterthought, or just plain, "Let's get this book finished and start on the next one." A better, more fitting, more appropriate climax would have made this a totally satisfying read.

Rating:
Summary: Another exciting Pot boiler from Lescroart
Review: Through a friend I was able to get an advance copy of "The Motive", which is pretty exciting for me as I have been a long time fan or this series! In this edition Hardy and Glitsky are back and investigating a double homicide in the San Francisco's high society. Mix in money, politics, and power and you have a heck of a bang! Because of the high profile of the victims the SF mayor Orders a top detective on the case. Ta Da - in comes Detective Glitsky! You know it is going to happen but it is still great. I don't want to give away to much, but the story has plenty of twists and turns, with no one coming away clean. You see the seedy side of San Francisco. I may not be very objective since I live in San Francisco and love reading a thriller/mystery set in my own city! Oh Yeah, I also ahve to plug "Tourist in the Yucatan" Cool thriller!