The Fifth Man. James
LePore. The Story Plant. February 2013.
236 pp. eBook. ISBN #: 9781611880656.
Matt
Massi has made a decision, it seems. His
father Chris Massie is a man who speaks little and listens carefully; and he
has taught his son the same more by example than by excessive words. Now Matt is a student at Columbia University
but doesn’t have much time for studies as he has been contacted for his
connection to his father – and Eastern Europe interests. A tip off about a locked storage unit alerts
him way beyond the message. At the same
time it also eventually connects him to the abused wife of an alcoholic bully,
the latter whom he will murder in self-defense and the former with whom he will
fall in love!
Next
we meet the rest of the Massi “family,” including his “Don” father,
housekeeper, man who assists Chris in finding information on any individual
person - or eliminating them, men in the
“know” who never seem to be as on top as Matt’s father, and more. A theft of valuable diamonds has been noted
and a “find” of $2,000,000 certainly piques Matt’s interest but not out of
greed!
Off
to Greece and eventually further into mainland Europe where Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton will be meeting another European leader on the anniversary of
the September 11, 2001 massacre of Americans by Middle Eastern terrorists. An
attack on them would be felt across the globe but for what reason? Before that
can even be prevented, multiple individuals enter the picture, all claiming to
be part of the connections to the answer, including a sexy lady, a man who
heads another mafia family in Europe, a “wolf”-like man, a “blonde” killer and
so on.
James
LePore describes the public’s fascination with the Mafia, a group of people who
live an entitled life but who all yearn for something far more. The essence of the mystery is about the
courts of power, the motivations and tentacles of terrorists, and the necessity
of discovering such plots before their devastating outcome in more ways than
one. This novel, which is a sequel to LePore’s Sons and Princes, is superb, sparingly worded, tautly plotted, and
engagingly intelligent enough to intrigue any reader. A great read and with a promise of future
novels about this classy, slick and superhuman family who choose to “handle”
crime in many forms!
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