The Missing Piece

A Novel (Dismas Hardy, Book 19)

By: John Lescroart

Narrated by: Jacques Roy

Length: 8 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

The beloved New York Times bestselling Dismas Hardy series returns with this “perfect piece of entertainment from a master storyteller” (Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author) about a relentlessly twisty murder mystery.

No one mourned when San Francisco DA Wes Farrell put Paul Riley in prison eleven years ago for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. And no one is particularly happy to see him again when he’s released after The Exoneration Initiative uncovered evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. In fact, Riley soon turns up murdered, surrounded by the loot from his latest scam. But if Riley was really innocent all along, who wanted him dead?

To the cops, it’s straightforward: the still-grieving father of Riley’s dead girlfriend killed the former prisoner. Farrell, now out of politics and practicing law with master attorney Dismas Hardy, agrees to represent the defendant, Doug Rush—and is left in the dust when Rush suddenly vanishes. At a loss, Farrell and Hardy ask PI Abe Glitsky to track down the potentially lethal defendant. The search takes Glitsky through an investigative hall of mirrors populated by wounded parents, crooked cops, cheating spouses, and single-minded vigilantes. As Glitsky embraces and then discards one enticing theory after another, the truth seems to recede ever farther. So far that he begins to question his own moral compass in this “superb thriller from a veteran crime writer” (Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author) that you’ll savor to the last word.

©2021 The Lescroart Corporation. All rights reserved. (P)2021 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

John Lescroart is a great writer!

This is another great story by Lescroart! I love his books. You're never sure how things will work out but it is always a story you have to finish!

Excellent!

unputdownable, riveting, private-investigators, law-enforcement, local-politics, friends, contemporary, mental-health-issues, cooperation, lawyers, ex-cons, false-information, false-identities, family, family-dynamics, family-expectations, mistakes, multiple-murder, investigations, investigators*****

Despite the steep learning curve rising from the fact that I jumped in at book #19, I only read two or three chapters when I hunted up an affordable audio copy (vision issues).
The plot itself spiraled and branched like elk antlers and scooped up extra characters along the way. Each of the characters, both main and ancillary, are very clearly drawn and realistic. Thanks for the intro, but it was definitely worth the price for the audio!
I requested and received an EARC copy from Atria Books via NetGalley. Thank you!
P.S. Bernie Rhodenbarr says that St Dismas is the patron saint of thieves ;)

The Missing Piece

This was an excellent piece. You never knew the killer until the very end. Good read.

Please get a new reader

Jaques Roy does have a pleasant voice, but unfortunately does not distinguish between characters very much. We popped in after taking a break and couldn't figure out who was speaking... realized it was Glitzky and his wife... Abe has always before been portrayed with a gruff voice, and now he sounds just like his wife. Sure makes it harder to follow.

Very good story

This book had a good storyline, but was a bit light on Dismas. I’m not as attached to the other characters so this wasn’t as fulfilling as some of the prior books.

Needed more work

Not one of his best works. Needed a lot more work. Performance was okay.

Very enjoyable listen

Nice whodunnit. Learned a lot about exoneration initiatives. Good narration. I will seek out more Lescroart books.

An other great listen

What a great listen. Another great story. So many familiar characters and that ever present surprise twist.

Interesting

As a love of this author And his characters — this story was so interesting due the many different twists and turns. Slightly confusing to start, it develops into a true “who done it?” You won’t be disappointed.

Love this series…even without David Colacci

Mostly this review is going to be for the narrator because, let’s face it, John Lescroart always writes a good book. This was no exception. I’m pretty good at figuring out who dunnit, but I didn’t clue into the bad guy until close to the end. So about the narrator. I LOVE David Colacci. I started this series because I was trying to find more books that he narrated. So when he suddenly wasn’t the narrator, I was bummed. I bought the Kindle version rather than give up my favorite characters’ voices that I knew and loved. But when this last book came out, I thought what the heck! If I hate the narrator, I’ll return the book. I am SO glad I gave him a chance! Jacques Roy did an absolutely excellent job! He didn’t give every character a distinctly different voice, but I never had a problem with not knowing who was speaking. He has a very soothing reading voice, and I thoroughly enjoyed listening to him. I even looked for other books he’s narrated, and wished I hadn’t already read the others in this series that he narrated. He hasn’t done a great many in the mystery/suspense genre, which is regrettable, but I’ll most certainly add him to my favorite narrator list.