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.

Skip to the end.

Boring. Six hours later and I just wanted to find out who dunit so I could move,onto something else.

Overall - Good Book

Good.... but not great.

The story is just not quite intriguing enough to classify it as a "can't put down" novel.

However, I DID enjoy it. This was my first Dismas Hardy novel and I will probably try another.

I believe a previous reviewer in that this may not be one of his best.

I like the author's style, and he is quite brilliant at creating good legal angles and interesting dialogue.

Laurie is dead on in her review. The editor oughta be shot for leaving such a hole open in the conclusion - he/she totally missed closing it!!

Good Narrator - Overall recommended.

Solid and Gripping

What did you love best about A Plague of Secrets?

John Lescroart is quickly becoming one of my favorites. As a gauge, my

Who was your favorite character and why?

No question, Dismas Hardy, the defense attorney. As much as you hate liking a defense attorney, in this series, he is always right and defending an innocent person. Rare though that may be in the real world, it is fun to think about.

Have you listened to any of David Colacci???s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, but in this book, he does a great job. No annoying ticks, no strange breathing, no odd pauses. Just a great read.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

No, not that kind of book really, unless it is the discussion of Chief Abe Glitsky taking his eyes of his 3-year-old son for 5 seconds, during which the boy is struck by a car. Any parent's nightmare and the discussion certainly makes the listener/reader contemplate how they would react or if they have ever given rise to similar chances where the phrase

A yarn about political and judicial abuse

Maybe I've read so many mystery novels that I am no longer shocked by the revelations of who really did it and why. I now read stories for the journey-how the author gets me to the conclusion. This story is slow for the first few chapters, but it picks up near the end. If you have the patience to wade through this police and legal procedural, I recommend it. Also, the reader does a fair job.

Great story, great narration

David Collaci brings the gripping Dismas Hardy stories to life perfectly. I never get confused about who is talking but the voices never come across as fake sounding. Now that I've listened to almost all the Dismas Hardy books, I think I'll check out some of the other books he narrates

A great complex story

A great story complex enough to keep you interested and guessing but not too hard to remember when listening in 30 minute bursts on the commute. Nice production good voices great entertainment.

great pace, mystery with a bit of humour

Hardy is a great character and i look forward to catching up. i've been looking for someone to lookforward to since i ran out of stone barrington and dino!!! yay!!

one of the better of the series.

Seems all of Lescroart's female characters fall into a few narrow categories. perfect wife/mother, tough police or judicial career woman or an accused who spends long periods in jail awaiting a trial -- and this type always handles the horrors of jail life with little complaint. His male characters are more varied and interesting. In this one, my complaint would be lack of Hardy-Glitsky interaction. I missed that in this book. Placing ABe's son in jeopardy seems to have only taken Abe out of the book. when he returns, it's in an odd way. Not till the end of the book does he (abe) act like himself.

These books lose me at about the 2/3 point. I have to fight to not fast forward to the last 1/4 or so. there is too much narrative in the middle with a lot of surmising and second guessing. then the truth comes out and all is well.

If you like the series, if you've come to know the characters and to expect the frying pan and the mixed cuisine restaurant to make their appearances, they do. The twist at the end is not really jaw-dropping, but it's different and unexpected until about the last 25% of the book, when the source of all the troubles became blatantly clear to me (the reader), yet not to him (the lawyer).

I don't know if I should be bragging that "I got it" before Hardy did or complaining that it was so easy. I do like all the "education" I get about the way the law and courtrooms work.

Excellent legal thriller!

This is my first John Lescroart audio book, but I have read several of his novels prior to joining Audible 10 years ago. A Plague of Secrets is mostly about lawyer Dismas Hardy facing the issue of privileged information about his celebrity client that he must not reveal. Of course this issue is common in legal thrillers. Narration is stellar.

I like John Lescroart's books but...

this was a long and not terribly exciting story. I did listen to the end but it wasn't my favorite by this author.