Hardball

Rating:
Summary: Skip this one...
Review: Reporter Cat Marsala investigates the death of drug legalization activist, Louise Sugarman. Along the way, she learns a lot about the movement to legalize drugs and is forced to examine many of her own prejudices.

I actually happen to agree with a lot of the points Marsala makes in the book. It's just that I also happen to resent being force-fed political agenda when I think that I'm going to be reading a mystery. The whole story gets lost behind all the expounding that goes on. D'Amato takes the opportunity to bring out all the arguments for and against drug legalization and does so with very thinly veiled plot tricks (the different candidates for taking over Sugarman's role have to give sample speeches to explain why they are pro-legalization). Add to that a main character who while occasionally interesting is undeveloped (her reactions to the police are spurious, as is her decision to investigate) and you get a book worth skipping.

Hopefully with her other books, D'Amato focused more on the mystery and less on pounding the reader over the head with political debate.