A Plague of Secrets

Dismas Hardy, Book 13

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

The first victim is Dylan Vogler, a charming ex-convict who manages the Bay Beans West coffee shop in San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district. When his body is found, inspectors discover that his knapsack is filled with high-grade marijuana. It soon becomes clear that San Francisco's A-list flocked to Bay Beans West not only for their caffeine fix.

But how much did Maya Townshend - the beautiful socialite niece of the city's mayor, and the absentee owner of the shop - know about what was going on inside her business? And how intimate had she really been with Dylan, her old college friend?

As another of Maya's acquaintances falls victim to murder, and as the names of the dead men's celebrity, political, and even law-enforcement customers come to light, tabloid-fueled controversy takes the investigation into the realms of conspiracy and cover-up. Prosecutors close in on Maya, who has a deep secret of her own - a secret she needs to protect at all costs during her very public trial, where not only her future but the entire political landscape of San Francisco hangs in the balance, hostage to an explosive secret that Dismas Hardy is privilegebound to protect.

©2009 John Lescroart (P)2009 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

A 'Law and Order' Type Story

This story struck me as a full length movie version of Law and Order. It opens with a crime, the detectives do the investigation, an arrest is made, and the lawyers finish the story.

It is well written and clever. This is an accomplishment as the neither the crime or method of solution are extraordinary. Yet, I found myself wrapped up in the story wanting to know what was going to happen next. It has many of the classic elements of this kind of story: police with biases and agendas; district attorneys with agendas; the lone defense attorney who has to fight the police, the district attorney and deal with local politics, the defendant who is reluctant to tell of her past which may or may not have anything to do with the crime.

If you like this genre, you are likely to enjoy this book.,

What about the two shots?

Maybe I wasn't paying attention, but was the issue of the two shots ever accounted for or was it just a red herring?
P.S. Excellent mystery.

great read

A highly entertaining and intelligent read. The underlying theme regarding the guilt one often feels if one has caused an accident was particularly insightful and could be useful to someone dealing with such issues.

Well-constructed plot

This book was well-written and didn't leave the impression, as many thrillers do, that the author was making plot decisions on the fly. I personally had the wrong person pegged as the villain, but when the mystery unfolded, everything fell logically into place. The narrator did an excellent job on altering his tone and cadence, allowing for quick identification of who was speaking. Not the best book that was ever written but it did well on all counts and synergistically earned five stars. An excellent offering by Lescroart.

Good book, great by other author's standards

I always do John Lescroart a disservice by judging him differently than other authors. This is NOT Lescroart's best work, but it is very good!

I couldn't stand the narrator

I've loved John Lescroart's books for many years and even, at one point, wrote him a fan letter. According to the reviewers, this is not one of his best, but I won't get to know that by listening to the audiobook. I listened to about half an hour, through the part when Abe Glitsky appeared, but then I had to turn it off. To me, the narrator was so far off the voices of Dismas and Abe (especially) that it was grating to me.

You know how it is when you see a movie made from a book you've loved? That "aaargh" kind of feeling that they've gotten it all wrong? That's what happened to me here. I'm going to pick up the book.

Another Excellent Lescroart

I had taken a couple of years break from "reading" Lescroart and now I wonder why. This book has an excellent plot, fine character development and just the right amount of suspense. Narrator is one of the better ones in this genre. No complaints here.

Attorneys, court room dramas, investigations...

I personally love these kinds of novels. I have many of John Lescroart's books and I have enjoyed all of them. You get to know the character's and their lives as well as a good who done it. I recommend this book. The author and the narrator are at the top of my list of favorites.

An entertaining read.

If you could sum up A Plague of Secrets in three words, what would they be?

Enjoyable and entertaining.

What did you like best about this story?

The plot twists were well done, as were the courtroom scenes.

What about David Colacci’s performance did you like?

He did a good job on the narration.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

A legal thriller with a modern day Perry Mason.

Lescroart in decline?

I hadn't read Lescroart in some years but remembered enjoying his work. I went back to him with Plague of Secrets with enthusiasm. But although the plot is, as always, very complex and interesting, his writing seems to have become sloppy. He uses a lot of fashionable phrases and jargon. His dialogue was especially disappointing: conversations made from templates. This book is OK for anyone interested in the current San Francisco political and cultural scene and in courtroom drama but not choosy about syle.