Black River: A Novel - Hardcover

Ford, G.M.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0380978741 ISBN 13: 9780380978748

Publisher: William Morrow, 2002

Synopsis

There is the law, and there is justice. The two are not always the same....

There is no stronger argument for the death penalty than Nicholas Balagula -- but so far the elusive sociopath has escaped punishment through ruthless intimidation, jury tampering, and the fortuitous deaths of chief prosecution witnesses. Now the bloodthirsty West Coast crime boss has been charged with sixty-three counts of murder, and rogue journalist Frank Corso is the only nonparticipant allowed to observe the closed proceedings, which has placed the reclusive writer uncomfortably in the center ring of the most crazed media circus to hit Seattle in years.

Then personal tragedy strikes in the midst of the madness, knocking Corso's carefully protected world out of its orbit. While following her own leads toward another unpunished crime, photojournalist Meg Dougherty -- once Corso's lover and still his dearest friend -- reaches an abrupt and calculated dead end on a bleak and rainy Washington night, leaving her broken, bloodied, and more dead than alive.

With the one person in the world Corso truly cares about clinging weakly to life in the I.C.U. -- and with the increasingly likely possibility of Balagula taking yet another walk -- the angry lone-wolf reporter is determined to identify all guilty parties and make them pay, by his own hand if necessary. But the black river of lies, secrets, corruption, and death surrounding the Balagula trial is much deeper and more dangerous than even Corso anticipated....

Hard-hitting, gritty, vivid, and unforgettable, Black River is the electrifying follow-up to Fury -- the resoundingly acclaimed thriller that first introduced tough, irascible, wonderfully colorful and complex protagonist Frank Corso to the reading public. With his second sensational appearance, the volatile black sheep investigator earns a permanent place among crime fiction's most intriguing continuing characters...and his creator, G.M. Ford, solidifies his standing as "the Raymond Chandler of Seattle" (San Antonio Express-News).

About this title

Review:

Mobster Nicholas Balagula cut so many corners when he built a new children's hospital that 63 people died when it collapsed. Now he's up on murder charges, and Seattle true-crime writer Frank Corso, who watched Balagula's first two trials end disastrously when witnesses disappeared and jurors were bought off, is back in court for the third one, which looks like a slam dunk for the prosecution. Then Frank's former girlfriend, photojournalist Meg Dougherty, is brutally attacked after stumbling on a connection between a story she's following and the one Frank's hoping to turn into another bestseller. Corso, making his second appearance here (after Fury), is a quirky, engaging protagonist who grows on the reader, much like Leo Waterman, the laid-back hero of G.M. Ford's other series. Ford is a deft stylist whose characters are usually more interesting and less predictable than his plots; maybe he'll give Corso more to work with next time around. --Jane Adams

About the Author:

G.M. Ford is the author of six widely praised Frank Corso novels, Fury, Black River, A Blind Eye, Red Tide, No Man's Land, and Blown Away, as well as six highly acclaimed mysteries featuring Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman. A former creative writing teacher in western Washington, Ford lives in Oregon and is currently working on his next novel.

About this edition

• Publisher: William Morrow
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0380978741
• ISBN 13: 9780380978748
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320