The Mongol Reply (Five Star First Edition Mystery Series)

Rating:
Summary: A welcome return from Schutz
Review: After nearly a decade absent from the publishing world, forensic psychologist Benjamin M. Schutz has made a welcome return with a powerful, emotionally charged work that will reintroduce his name to the minds of eager readers.

The Mongol Reply centers on a nasty custody dispute between a disturbed young woman and her allegedly violent husband, a former football star. In order to keep custody of her children, she must demonstrate her fitness to Dr. Morgan Reece, a child psychology specialist assigned to her case by the court.

Dr. Reece is an intriguing character, as are all of Schutz's creations. He is a man with a troubled and painful past that he must wade through while trying to help the poor children trapped between their warring parents.

The Mongol Reply is a fascinating exploration of just how bad a bad custody battle can be. At times it is almost painful to read, as Schutz shows how the system can devastate the lives of the meek and innocent.

Combining the elements of both a legal thriller and a psychological one, The Mongol Reply is an enthralling and challenging book that will please fans old and new.

Reviewed by David Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times

Rating:
Summary: dark challenging legal thriller
Review: Former football player turned Virginia Squires' Special Teams' coach Tom Tully hires attorney Albert "Agent Orange" Garfield as he wants his wife Serena to be punished and left with nothing because he knows she is cheating on him. Tom ignores that he has always cheated on her as he wants her blitzed into total collapse and surrender.

Without her presence, Albert persuades the judge that Serena is dangerous to her spouse and their two small children, six years old Tom Junior and four years old Tina. He cuts her off from her home, funds, and friends with a smear campaign. The only setback is the assignment of honest forensic psychologist Dr. Morgan Reece to evaluate what is best for the two children. Reece will find himself in the midst of a brutal precision operation to annihilate Serena regardless of the cost to two preadolescent children. If Tom loses a battle, he could go over the edge killing everyone.

This is a dark legal thriller not for everyone. The plot showcases how far a firm will go to spin "facts" in support of their client without regard to what they are doing to innocent children or the truth (sounds like a political campaign). The grim story line also paints a gloomy picture of family values. Tom is violently crazy while Serena is a distraught victim with no options from the assault; Reece is a terrific psychologist struggling to stay neutral, but finding himself more in Serena's corner as much for the kids' sake as for the continuous sacks on her life. He is unaware that by leaning in her direction he jeopardizes his life.

Harriet Klausner


Rating:
Summary: The Return of a Master
Review: In the late 1980's and early 1990's Ben Schutz wrote some of the finest examples of noir private eye fiction around. Then his voice went silent for a decade. His welcome return in this harrowing exploration of a vicious child custody battle finds Schutz far beyond where he left off. No hard-boiled shamus this time but a complex, academic, mild-mannered forensic psychologist up against some of the nastiest people to walk these mean suburban streets.

Characters are fully formed; no one, hero or villain, is spared a personal set of demons. The plot exposes the underbelly of the divorce process, from the barely legal, brutally elegant moves of the attorneys to the strained objectivity of the custody evaluator desperate to act in the best interests of the children.

Starting with a level of emotional intensity that I wrongly believed couldn't be sustained much less increased, the action builds to a fury of an ending so unexpected yet preordained that it resounds like the final crashing notes of a symphony.

It's a joy to have Schutz back.

Rating:
Summary: A stunning and brilliant triumph! Hold onto your seat.
Review: In The Mongol Reply, Ben Schutz is at the peak of his very considerable talent as a writer of gut wrenching and consummately well written fiction. The author of the outstanding Leo Haggerty series (do not miss them!) shifts gears and presents an unlikely new hero, Dr. Morgan Reece, a forensic psychologist working in child custody evaluation. Schutz's powerful and wholely believable tale illuminates the dark corners of domestic litigation as has never been done before, at the same time as he brilliantly weaves very believable and full blooded characters on a path that is timelessly tragic. As with any really good tragedy, all characters have their fatal flaws, ones that Schutz subtlely elaborates until they come careening to their shocking, though inevitable, date with evil. Nowhere in any recent literature have I read a conclusion to a novel that is so disturbing, yet so clearly makes sense and does not pander to voyeurism. Schutz's development of damaged and compelling characters is alone worth the price of admission The intense, though ultimately moral and cautionary, ending of his story will leave you on your knees, sucking for air.