Scar Tissue

For Every Crime There's a SecretBoston attorney Brady Coyne is devastated after receiving a call from his old friend Jake Gold. Jake's son, Brian, and the boy's girlfriend were involved in an accident that plunged their car into the depths of a local river. The girl was dragged up with the wreckage, DOA. Brian is still missing-most likely swept away by the frigid February currents.For Every Secret There's a LieBrady already has unanswered questions, and with a personal interest in the case, he can't help but look beneath the surface of the watery grave in what he suspects was more than a tragic accident. Then when Jake disappears, and local authorities are loath to investigate, Brady's convinced that very little in the rural suburb of Reddington is what it seems.For Every Lie There's a VictimBut finding his friend, Jake, is only the first piece of the puzzle. The trail leaves Brady to wonder who he can trust, who else is in danger, and how he can hope to survive a shocking small town secret that's taking no prisoners-and leaving no survivors.Amazon.com ReviewBrady Coyne is a Boston lawyer who'd rather be fishing than trying a case. Most of his clients are also his friends, so when Jake and Sharon Gold's 15-year-old son and his girlfriend are killed in a car accident, Brady tries to lighten their load by handling the details of the police investigation and the funeral arrangements. But Brian's body hasn't been recovered yet, despite the efforts of police divers at the accident scene. There are other signs that this was more than a typical scenario of teenage drivers taking a curve too fast, but the authorities don't seem interested in looking into them. Brady soon realizes that someone's applying political pressure to keep the lid on a secret everyone but Brady and the Golds seems to know about: a pornography ring in which a beloved community leader and the best and brightest local high school students are deeply involved. This is Coyne's 17th outing, as reliable a harbinger of fall as the first bonfire of the season. No big surprises here, but William Tapply's popular series continues to win fans charmed by his thoughtful hero, his solid plotting, and his smooth pacing. --Jane AdamsFrom Publishers WeeklyYou can always rely on Boston lawyer Brady Coyne, as shown in this outstanding whodunit, the 17th in this underappreciated series from suspense master Tapply (Cutter's Run, etc.). When Brian, the 15-year-old son and only child of Jake and Sharon Gold, is apparently involved in a fatal auto accident, Brady rushes to their home in suburban Reddington, Mass., to lend his support. The local police, headed by Chief Ed Sprague, have fished the body of Brian's girlfriend out of a car that plunged through a guardrail into the frozen river below. The two were inseparable, so the search goes on for Brian somewhere beneath the ice. Brady, however, soon suspects the boy is alive. Then Jake, after sending Brady a sealed envelope for safekeeping, asks that they meet at a motel outside Boston. When Brady enters the room rented by "John Silver," he finds not his friend but Chief Sprague, shot dead. Jake turns up later in Sprague's barn, his corpse showing signs of torture. The plot gets even thicker when Brady finds hundreds of dollars torn into shreds hidden in Brian's room. The tension mounts as Brady comes under pressure from politically ambitious DA Gus Nash and cynical detective Roger Horowitz to reveal what he knows. Plus there's girlfriend Evie, who isn't returning his calls, as well as the bereft Sharon, who sorely needs consolation. A confrontation in Brady's office with a gun-wielding goon bent on retrieving the sealed envelope is only one of several electrifying episodes that wrap up this ingenious yarn, featuring one of the most convincingly heroic and likable of contemporary sleuths. Agents, Jed Mattes and Fred Morris. (Oct.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.