Novels No. 100

 A lovely round number, representing about two hundred reviews since the beginning of 2023 (when the blog title changed midway that year to Mostly Crime Fiction). A celebration of sorts, at least a tribute to late-night reading in bed. The reading for No. 100 was mostly 2025 but posting in 2026. I call them “reviews” loosely, because I recognize that they are basically teasers with a few opinions and no spoilers. My personal reminders of time well spent. 

Michael Connelly. The Gods of Guilt. USA: Little, Brown and Company, 2013.

(Still with in-house book finds; my TPL orders are moving like molasses or not even in transit yet!)

Here’s Mickey Haller, the original “Lincoln lawyer”—must be a book I missed way back then, although I’d read a few in the series. Right off, Mickey notes that publicity about himself and a film based on his activities, have inspired a number of would-be clones: curbside competitors. However, an accused murderer with financial means is the most desirable client for a defense attorney, and Mickey meets Andre La Cosse. Andre with no acute accent. He’s charged with the murder of Giselle Dallinger, who provided escort services facilitated by La Cosse. Mickey’s team gets their assignments, with investigator Cisco researching both victim and client—who pays in gold bars!

The gods of guilt are the jurors in a case who hold life-changing power, sometimes life or death. But it’s Mickey who constantly feels guilt over unforeseen consequences from some of his legal actions—his estranged daughter, Gloria’s death, putting his team in harm’s way, the list goes on. Preparing La Cosse’s defense has led to an incredible tangle of people with sinister agendas, from an incarcerated cartel member to a rogue government agent. Efforts to destroy his trial strategy can often be managed, but mortal threats to get rid of Mickey altogether are harder to deal with. He needs to stay alive throughout, after which he must follow with a second, equally critical court matter.

Connelly immerses us in another world where both legal and criminal personalities mix in countless fascinating interactions. No one does courtroom better, at the same time helping us understand the process and the negotiations. And glib but articulate, thick-skinned but sensitive, Mickey is hard to resist.

Peeks

▪ The photos were airbrushed, the hair was different, and a plastic surgeon had gone to work since I had last seen her, but I had no doubt that Giselle Dallinger was my former client Gloria Dayton. (35)

▪ “She said he didn’t pay because there was nobody in that room. She said they told her at the desk the guy checked out that day, and I knew that was bullshit because I talked to him in that room.” (62)

▪ “We were just talking once and she mentioned you. You know, like if anything happens to me, then Mickey Mantle will go to bat for me.” (103)

▪ “I have no idea!” she yelled. “Didn’t you hear anything I just said? I am not in the life anymore!” (121)

▪ “You yourself just asked why Moya would wait seven years to exact vengeance. I don’t think he did. Gloria’s death is a big loss to him.” (158)

▪ I knew right away he was dead. He must’ve been thrown clear and then the car rolled over him. (229)

▪ “We believe, based on the facts brought forward, that Gloria Dayton was a DEA informant and that she planted the gun in Mr. Moya’s room on the orders of her DEA handler.” (262-3)

▪ “Mr. Lankford is one of the main investigators on this case and the defense is allowed to vigorously question how the state gathers and analyzes evidence and the statements of witnesses.” (295)

Karin Slaughter. Pieces of Her. USA: William Morrow, 2018

By all accounts Andrea (Andy) is a thirty-year-old loser, sleepwalking her way through a disappointing life wherein she seems incapable of any independent action. For about the first ninety pages she rarely even speaks, although her inner voice is emotionally active. When her mother Laura Oliver stops a manic killer in a mall from shooting more people, Andy is overcome with terror and confusion. Bodies, blood, police, hospital, and mom—having displayed skills and coolness never witnessed before. Before the day is over, Andy’s mother had become an unfamiliar stranger to her, and a victim in a brutal attack, issuing escape instructions to her daughter. For once, Andy is forced to act on her own.

Suddenly, shockingly, we are back in 1986 where forty-three-year-old Laura Juneau is about to commit a very public murder—revenge for the loss of her family due to corporate neglect by Querelle Healthcare. Who is this Laura?! CEO Martin Querelle’s children Andrew and Jane are secretly committed to an anarchist group headed by the eloquent Nick Harp; Jane is in thrall to him, as are all the others, despite her moments of rational sanity. Nick’s “army” is planning and executing spectacular, attention-getting explosions. The parallel stories will merge, cloaked in mystifying riddles. Andy’s initiative to discover her mother’s true history is dangerous but arouses her best abilities.

Physical beatings occur rather too often for my sensibilities, like how do these people carry on? But author Slaughter never loses the suspense in this very densely packed novel—a brilliant take on a slice of America. [Sadly, an off of writer.]

Andy

▪ “I dunno, it’s weird to watch her on the video because, you’re like, wow, that’s Mrs. Oliver, but it’s like in Kill Bill where the mom is all normal in front of her kid but she’s secretly a killing machine.” (70)

▪ He could be inside, waiting for Andy. He could be killing Laura right now. He could rape Andy. He could kill her in front of her mother. (88)

▪ “Don’t come home until you hear from me, okay? Only respond to my voice, my actual voice, saying these exact words: ‘It’s safe to come home now.’ Do you understand? Andy?” (98)

▪ Every single inch of Andy’s body wanted him. She had never been so overcome with lust. (199)

▪ Why had Laura lied to her? Who was she so afraid of? Why had she told Andy to go to Idaho? (272)

▪ Paula said, “She was never as timid as you. Must get that from your father?” (283)

Jane

▪ The shock of truthfulness brought an image to Laura’s mind: Jinx Queller at the piano, the entire audience held rapt as her hands floated across the keyboard. (142)

▪ Queller had made hundreds of thousands of dollars off of Robert Juneau’s death. (251)

▪ Nick’s fist snaked out, punching Maplecroft square in the face. (296)

▪ This had crossed the line of insanity. They were all psychotic. Every single one of them. “How could you?” she asked Nick. (297-8)

▪ “He’s your best friend.” Her voice was no more than a whisper. “He’s my brother.” (332)

▪ “How does it feel to suffocate, darling? Is it everything you imagined?” (335)