The Keeper

Dismas Hardy, Book 15

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: David Colacci

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

From New York Times best-selling author John Lescroart, a riveting novel featuring Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky on the hunt for clues about a woman who has gone missing.

On the evening before Thanksgiving, Hal Chase, a guard in the San Francisco County Jail, drives to the airport to pick up his step-brother for the weekend. When they return, Hal’s wife, Katie, has disappeared without a clue.

By the time Dismas Hardy hears about this, Katie has been missing for five days. The case strikes close to home because Katie had been seeing Hardy’s wife, a marriage counselor. By this time, the original Missing Persons case has become a suspected homicide, and Hal is the prime suspect. And the lawyer he wants for his defense is none other than Hardy himself.

Hardy calls on his friend, former homicide detective Abe Glitsky, to look into the case. At first it seems like the police might have it right; the Chases’ marriage was fraught with problems; Hal’s alibi is suspect; the life insurance policy on Katie was huge. But Glitsky’s mission is to identify other possible suspects, and there proves to be no shortage of them: Patti Orosco - rich, beautiful, dangerous, and Hal’s former lover; the still-unknown person who had a recent affair with Katie; even Hal’s own step-mother, Ruth, resentful of Katie’s gatekeeping against her grandchildren. And as Glitsky probes further, he learns of an incident at the San Francisco jail, where Hal works - only one of many questionable inmate deaths that have taken place there. Then, when Katie’s body is found not three blocks from the Chase home, Homicide arrests Hal and he finds himself an inmate in the very jail where he used to work, a place full of secrets he knows all too well.

Against this backdrop of conspiracy and corruption, ambiguous motives and suspicious alibis, an obsessed Glitsky closes in on the elusive truth. As other deaths begin to pile up he realizes, perhaps too late, that the next victim might be himself.

©2014 The Lescroart Corporation (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

The Keeper

Another good Lescoart book with Dismas Hardy at the helm. Abe Glintsky is now retired from the police force but joins Dismas in the investigation.
This is an easy and enjoyable read.

great read aka listen

Where does The Keeper rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

wow just keep them coming dismas hardy and the gang are some of my favorite charters its going be a long wait for the next book seem like I was waiting forever for this one and could not turn it off once I started listening to it

What does David Colacci bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

David Colacci is the man I have listen to a dismas book that wasn't read by by him and although it was good it seem to lack something wish I could find other titles read by him as riveting as the hardy series

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

yes I both laughed and cried though out the book then had to go back and listen to another of my stored hardy novels just cant seem to get enough

Good plot, but way too predictable

I really enjoyed the story line and characterizations of this author, and the narration was acceptable--to a point. I could not figure out why so many of the people were given southern accents--didn't make sense, and was quite distracting. The story was very entertaining, and the plot was pretty good, only it was so disappointingly predictable--kind of like watching an old Western and knowing the villain by his black hat. Right from the start, every indication pointed to the murderer, and the "clues" weren't subtle enough, I guess--although I do respect a mystery that gives them all, rather than pulling a rabbit out of a hat at the end. I enjoyed the writing style, which succeeded at being engrossing, even though predictable. I will likely give this author another read to see if he can surprise me.

Where did Hardy go?

Typical for the series except this one uses Abe Glitsky more actively. There were moments in the book that I felt Abe was made to look doddering, and deserving of his forced retirement. He made a bunch of rookie mistakes and I sort of winced at his foolishness. And even in the big solve, where Abe stands front and center, I didn't feel it was genuine.

Hardy was barely in the book, which this time was fine; but I wouldn't call it a Dismas Hardy book by any stretch.

Now about the story. The story was silly. A woman is murdered. Her husband is accused. There are all sorts of infidelities going on in marriages and in various departments of criminal justice. The resolve was a little implausible. You have to wonder if some of the bad behavior will continue by those in the story identified as truly guilty. You have to wonder if the fall guy (the final victim) was a convenience for the rest of the criminals in that circle. It seemed rather convenient to have the killer of the primary dead woman connected to all the deaths. About six murders occur in this book and by the end, there may be six previous to blame on this killer. Yet, it has no tension, no OMGs, no being caught off guard and no big surprise from the big reveal.

The ending was too clean. Too much information just showed up in the newspaper to justify the killer's motives, etc. I just kind of shrugged at the end. Abe's part in the finale was significant, and yet he seemed like an accidental hero. No final scenes with his wife. Mention of a potential reprimand, but nothing active or tense. The final scenes bring Hardy back into the picture, lecturing Abe, and, having taken little or no part in the story, Hardy morphed into a minor, all but forgotten character.

The series is usually better than this, but **The Keeper** wasn't the worst of them.

Lescroat's Writing Makes-up for Any Weakness

Would you consider the audio edition of The Keeper to be better than the print version?

Have no way to compare

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

Not exactly, yet the way the book is written, the main character, and the overall story, combined to keep me going. I did have a hard time turning off & sleeping!

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

Am not sure? Probably with same author's work. He seems to have left no lasting impression on me - which is a "good" thing.

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

Not that I recall. Story line has faded quickly in my memory. What I clearly take-away is that I like the writing and therefore enjoy the books.

Lescroat in full stride

This is classic Lescroart. It's set in San Francisco - probably a San Francisco of yesterday but he describes a crazy place I knew and liked. He's not a lawyer but he gets the procedural stuff and the sense of criminal law practice as well as anyone in the writing business. Dismas and Fran are getting older and in a way, they are both getting cooler.

David Colacci is, of course, the voice of the series and does for Lescroart what Richard Ferrone has done for the Prey Series.

A fun book to listen to.

In the last book of the series Lt. Abe Glitsky’s had been forced to retire from his job as Chief of SFPD homicide department. This book is mostly about Abe and what he is doing with his life. He sits at home reading until his friend Dismas Hardy, a defense attorney has him do some investigation for him on a new case of a missing woman. The woman Katie Chase, wife of a Sheriff Deputy who works at the jail is missing. The story appears to be the usual who-done-it until Katie Chase’s body is found. Then it turns into a story of political corruption or does it? Glitsky has stopped following the usual investigation procedures and is on a crusade. The suspense builds as the story twist and turns. I had picked out my suspect for the murder about half way through the book, but then as the story proceeds I start second guessing myself then the story looks as if it has concluded and I must be wrong. But the story keeps going and oh boy, I turn out to be correct. The book is lots of fun and the suspense keeps one reading. Guess I will have to wait until the next book to find out if Abe is working for the D.A. or is going private. I enjoyed the dulcet tones of David Colacci who has narrated the series from the beginning. It is great when the publisher keeps the same narrator throughout the series. I would give this a 3.5 start but alas they don’t allow for half stars.

Always enjoy Dismas and Abe

I was not thrilled with the narrator for most of the book, but chose to ignore it because I really like these characters. As a resident of California I also find the subject matter Mr. Lescroart writes about interesting and well informed. There was one very tiny moment of dialogue that gave me the clue as to "who done it" and I was quite pleased to know I was correct! All in all an enjoyable listen.

Very enjoyable

Great reader, and a very interesting story. I’ll definitely read more books by this author

Good mystery

I liked every Lescroart novel on this series. At this point, if anything stopped Colacci from reading these novels, it wouldn't be the same. He makes the characters who they are if that makes any sense. Like I said, good mystery, well written, entertaining. I see no reason to deduct a star.