Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Devil's Quota by Tom Avitabile

The Devil’s Quota. Tom Avitabile. The Story Plant. October 2014. 320 pp.  ISBN#: 9781611881929.

A well-known Judge is found dead after having a massive heart attack while in the throes of sexual bliss with a call girl in a seedy building far from his luxurious home.  The only problem is his wife tells Detective Mike DiMaggio that her husband was impotent.  Add to this fact the reality of a sex clinic run by a professional sex counselor Cassandra Cassidy.  It turns out she runs several floors in the building where she offers therapy for high profile customers.  Unfortunately, DiMaggio quickly figures out she is being protected by those same higher-ups, which leads to him being followed.

DiMaggio, however, calculates that losing his job merits his determination to find out who is behind his removal, and that’s where the action and complex nature of this investigation really begins and propels him into action.  It also advances considerably when someone tries to take out Cassidy.  The relationship between the two now changes into something more personal but is complex enough to defy predictability.

The story then switches to a sniper, Master Sergeant Eric Ronson, who is a Special Forces operative serving in Afghanistan.  He has fallen in love with Setara, an Afghan girl, who is connected to international traffickers and thereby leads Ronson into a heap of trouble.  Eventually he and DiMaggio will connect but that’s a spoiler not happening here.  Suffice to say there’s a great deal of killing happening on this end of the story!

Tom Avitabile’s plots are page-turning, gripping read.  The Ronson involvement eventually ties in but seems separate and disconnected at first, but eventually it all ties together to form a seamless plot.  DiMaggio and Cassandra Cassidy are characters with some unique, quirky qualities to their relationship right up to the last page.  Good read for all fans of crime/thriller fiction!



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