Mahogany Row

Rating:
Summary: A lamb of lawyer on the lam!
Review: A lawyer thriller written by a lawyer - brief, brutal & engaging! About loyalty, invested interest, corruption of power & the mess made by covering up lies.

Good commuter fodder - nothing earthshaking, tidbits of insider information with a riddle you want to unravel.

I look forward to more from this writer!

Rating:
Summary: Fast paced and surprising -- Highly recommended
Review: Attorney Mark McCoy reinvents himself to gain entrance into the world of high-powered attorneys and billable hours. Now his boss has been found, naked with his throat slashed, in his office, leaving Mark the prime suspect with murder.

The detective on the case gleefully informs him -- he's the last person to find out -- that his boss recommended against giving him a partnership, meaning he was about to be without a job. Unemployment after eight years of twelve billable hours a day seems an adequate motive for murder. And with no alibi, Mark is quickly running out of options.

Fleeing town and remaining a fugitive seems the only option for Mark, until he can prove his innocence. But with a tenacious detective and a powerful law firm on his trail, as well as killer, Mark best work fast or he may add to the growing body count.

Gritty, faced-paced, this first-person narrative keeps the reader on edge till the last surprising page. The dirty back streets of New York and a cast of seedy characters present motive and background guaranteed to hold the reader's interest. The author's first novel, MAHOGANY ROW's surprising twist at the end will leave reader's desiring more from this outstanding author. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Hard Boiled Pulp Lawyer Novel
Review: Here's a pretty satisfying tough, pulpy hard boiled mystery novel for anyone who needs a Mickey Spillane style fix. Instead of an alcoholic private eye, our protaganist is a lawyer. Now this isn't just any smarmy yuppie scum lawyer. . . no siree. . . ., this is Mark McCoy a street-smart, raised in Alphabet City, New York City lawyer who's being set up to take the fall for the murder of his boss. It's time to stop playing the game and start playing hard-ball. After he narrowly escapes arrest, McCoy busily tracks down leads as he avoids hired assasins, stays barely one step ahead of persistant cops and keeps getting himself in so many jams he ought to go by the name of Smuckers. There's a few sprinkles of authentic sounding inside information to be found (about how law firms work)--which is probably because author Wayne Keeley actually is a lawyer (entertainment lawyer) in real life. It's a short book that began life as an e-book, is being considered for a film, and will be pushed with a sizeable marketing budget in the very near future. If you're looking for a fun, quick, pulpy read, this will not disappoint you. Christopher J. Jarmick is the co-author of the Glass Cocoon an exciting suspense thriller.

Rating:
Summary: Fast, Furious & Loads of Fun!
Review: I was looking for a different kind of passion and pain and I found it in this mystery/thriller with a twist. I was intrigued by Mark's horrifying discovery of finding his boss's naked murdered body... and his urgent and intense need to search and defend himself and uncover the real truth. I like the way the author led you through the streets of NYC with unpredictable events of fear, emotion, shock and disbelief. Just when you think he is all alone and beaten, he finds friendship and compassion with a co worker Sherry, but yet his heart is closed and unable to trust anyone. There are moments of witty candidness, shocking insight and true genius. Watch as a ray of hope opens up and all the pieces fit... and its a grand day at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. A good read if your ever lost a job or just feel lost. I would like to see it become a motion picture. I think a lot of people would get a kick out of it.

Rating:
Summary: Legal Mayhem in NYC
Review: If a furiously paced thriller is for you, give Mahogany Row a try. Author/Attorney Wayne J. Keeley creates an environment of peril in New York City for his lawyer protagonist Mark McCoy. In some ways, this book is more related to The Fugitive than a legal drama, you'll want to keep the pages turning. Throw in a dash of kinky sex, a curious romance and an omnipresent cop and you have the ingredients for a good, seasonal read.

I had fun with this book and I think most mystery lovers will, too. For a first novel, not too bad. The plot leaves little time for character development. The characters would be interesting to get to know.

Rating:
Summary: Not Bad
Review: Mahogany Row is a fairly decent book considering it comes from a small press and is apparently a first novel. The editors, however, could have done a more careful job of proofreading. You will find missing words and punctuation marks, as well as reversed, superfluous, and missing quotation marks. This mystery/suspense novel was penned by yet another attorney/writer. It is more or less written in the style of the hard-boiled detective genre, though the protagonist is the primary murder suspect, not the investigator. It has the hard-boiled genre's fast-paced nature, with short sentences, lots of action, the less-than-sophisticated hero, and occasional comic irony. It even has the requisite strange metaphors such as: "His office was Nagasaki after the bomb." The author plays at profundity with an enigmatic homeless character but unfortunately never realizes it. The book is suspenseful and the mystery is fairly well-crafted and certainly interesting; the author keeps you reading. The ending is somewhat of a disappointment, however. The writer seems to have desired a twist, but because it is not as well developed as the central corporate mystery, it is a bit of a let down. The Epilogue is far too violent, sexually explicit, and, like a great many Epilogues, entirely unnecessary. It would have been better to have simply ended the book with the final chapter. Overall, Mahogany Row is an easy, interesting afternoon read.



Rating:
Summary: Sexy women, dirty cash, sleazy lawyers - a real page turner!
Review: Only Wayne Keeley and Chuck Palahniuk have made me read books this quickly! Mahogany Row opens strongly and gets even stronger as more and more details are revealed in this neo-noir crime thriller. From the first chapter, it is clear that you are not just reading a novel, but rather are experiencing one. Even the most unempathic of readers will sympathize with the protagonist in what turns out to be an empire-shattering plot.

Filled with vivid characters that materialize themselves for you as you read, you can't help but feel as though you are the one being probed and pushed beyond your limits; having been made the fall-guy for an organization that you gave your life to. This story is one you would only expect from an organized crime mastermind, or an articulate, creative, and multi-talented author named Wayne Keeley... remember that name as we'll be seeing more of it. Kudos to FictionWorks for publishing this author.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Wayne J. Keeley scripted an outstanding book envoling all ... The Three 3's in writing!!! Sex ... Suspense ... Stimulation! The Author is an Attorney and keeps your mind wondering, what can happen next.
Fast moving, Simply Superb!
It should be made into a Motion Picture!!!

Looking forward to the next novel!!!

Rating:
Summary: FAST AND SUSPENSEFUL
Review: When Mark McCoy discovers his boss' body in his office, sitting in Mark's captains chair, naked, with his throat cut from ear-to-ear, he knew it wasn't going to be a good Monday. Actually, his entire week didn't look very promising.
Since the killing took place in Mark's office, and he couldn't prove his alibi, he fell under the close scrutiny of one gruff Detective McGuire. Not only did that tend to bug Mark, but the irritation became worse when he discovered his life was being endangered by a wild driver in a large sedan who always seemed to be wherever Mark was. The driver obviously was very intent on running over him.
As the inverstigation progresses it becomes evident that Mark has been set up to take the blame for the murder. Eventually an APB is issued on him, and he has to go into hiding. He is able to enlist the aide of Sherry Rainey, a typist in the typing pool in the legal firm where Mark is a lawyer. Sherry can get into records that Mark can no longer access. Fortunately for Mark, Sherry has decided to stand by him through his tribulations. In their efforts to clear Mark they uncover malpractice, fraud, prostitution, and more murders.
Mr. Keeley has written a fast paced, action packed legal thriller. He explains the legal terminology so clearly that even this reviewer understood them. It is very easy to follow Mark through New York with such defined directions. The characters are so vividly word-painted that they virtually walk off the page.
One very interesting book that should not be missed.