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BURY THE LEAD is a story with quirky characters and convoluted plot. The author starts in a cutesy, flip way but fortunately tones it down as the story progresses. He tries too hard to be "different." However, at times he so immerses himself in the plot that he forgets to try so hard and the writing actually becomes better. As an example, in one early scene you see the main character, Andy Carpenter, and his friend Sam talking in music speak where the words in a sentence have to come from lyrics of many songs and yet make sense for the topic at hand -- this ploy comes out of nowhere and later is not heard of again. I found the author's characters one-dimensional, although several make it to two-dimensional, but none are memorable. It is hard to remember the characters at all when the book is done, and it's a struggle to remember the plot. The author writes in the first person and tries to sound like Dashiell Hammett. Andy Carpenter is an attorney who speaks before he thinks, then realizes he has put himself in a tough spot and lets the reader into his thoughts, showing he actually is a wimp. His girlfriend, Laurie, a former police officer, is always having to get him out of trouble or to protect him physically. One of his partners, Kevin Randall, owns a Laundromat which he uses "to emotionally, as well as literally, cleanse himself of the rather grim things we're exposed to in our criminal law practice." Andy has inherited $22 million and bought a dog named Tara, whom he is constantly asking what he should do. He also founded the Tara Foundation which sponsors a rescue mission for dogs and tries to find good homes for them. He has Willie Miller, also a multi-millionaire due to a judgment Andy won in a "civil suit against the people who conspired to wrongfully put him [Willie] on death row for seven years," handle the day-to-day operations of the mission. Now rich, Willie still comes across as a scruffy, kind-hearted individual of limited intelligence. Andy's law firm doesn't handle many cases, since he has all the money he needs and doesn't have to work. However, he decides gradually by default to represent Vince Sanders and his newspaper when a reporter, Daniel Cummings, is accused of being a serial murderer who strangles women from behind and cuts off their hands so they cannot be identified. Prior to being arrested Daniel had been used several times by an unknown person who telephoned to say that he was about to kill someone, and then the claimed victim was in fact murdered. Andy now trades his lawyer's cap for a detective's cap so as to find out who the real killer is and why the police feel they have a strong case against Daniel. Most of the action takes place in New Jersey where the killings occurred. Andy finds that some answers must be gotten further afield. When help from other sources turns up nothing, Andy takes a seemingly innocent fact-finding trip to another state, but becomes faced with mortal danger. There are many twists and turns, confrontations with the mob, and mysteries from the past that resurface before all is revealed. I wish the author had done some basic research on law firms before having his main character be an attorney owning his own firm. Even though this is a story of fiction, it helps to not have to suspend all belief. I've worked in some unusual law firms, but I've never heard of any that were as dysfunctional as the one here. However, while the book was not to my taste, I can see where those readers who like hardboiled stories with a bit of fantasy could easily find it more interesting than I did.
Reviewed by Ginger K. W. Stratton, June 2004
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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