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(More customer reviews)THE MOTIVE, the latest installment in the excellent series of legal thrillers/police procedurals by John Lescroart, is an excellent sequel to the two previous stories in the series. THE FIRST LAW (review 2/9/2003) was a completely atypical story in the series - it involved an incident that would unavoidably alter the relationship of attorney Dismas (Diz) Hardy and Deputy Police Chief Abraham (Abe) Glitsky forever as well as create a significant inflection point in both of their lives and careers. THE SECOND CHAIR (review 4/22/2004) involves Hardy's initial attempts to regain his personal and professional balance in the wake of that incident. In that novel, Hardy agrees to act as second chair to one of his young associates who is tempted to engage in a plea bargain for her young client in view of the apparently overwhelming evidence which the SFPD has assembled.
This story begins with a case of arson which Arnie Becker, the lead arson investigator, quickly determines also involves a doulble homicide. The victims (although burned beyond visual recognition) are eventually determined by the coroner to be Paul Hanover, a wealthy socialite with excellent political connections, and his fiancee Michelle (Missy) D'Amiens. Dan Cuneo is the homicide detective immediately assigned to investigate the murders. However, Mayor Kathy West is deeply concerned about the murder of her friend and large campaign contributor Hanover and asks Glitsky to conduct a parallel investigation of the case to ensure that it is solved as rapidly as possible.This puts Glitsky in an incredibly difficult position, not only because of the breach of normal department protocol (even though approved by the Chief), but also because despite the fact that the official police investigation had confirmed the alibis of Glitsky and Hardy in the violent shootout (described in THE FIRST LAW) in which several policemen were killed, Detective Cuneo correctly remains extremely suspicious that they had played a significant role. Cuneo soon decides that Catherine Hanover, Paul's daughter-in-law who he had first met at the scene of the fire, is his chief suspect; he discovers that not only did she lie about her alibi and thus had the opportunity to commit the crime, she also had both the means and THE MOTIVE.
Glitsky believes that several leads have not been adequately pursued but hesitates to fuel Cuneo's resentment by actively investigating the case further. (He is also distracted by a personal emergency which threatens to completely disrupt his wonderful relationship with Treya, his new wife.) However, Glitsky's attempts to placate Cuneo and deflect his interest in attempting to locate new evidence in the Gerson affair are completely undone when Hardy, after an agonizing appraisal of the situation, agrees to represent Catherine Hanover. This decision not only raises the political stakes in the case, but also seems certain to cause a breach in his relationship with Glitsky, who has become increasingly fearful that Cuneo will see any further investigative attempts by Abe as proof of the fact that his personal relationship with Diz is sufficiently strong to cause them to attempt to subvert the law.
While the the author provides enough background for this novel to be very enjoyable as a standalone read, it probably deserves no more than four stars on that basis. The emotion evoked by THE FIRST LAW is so raw that no summary can completely capture its intensity; thus while I actually did not rate that story as highly as THE MOTIVE, I strongly suggest that it be read first. While THE SECOND CHAIR is a transition story and is not essential background for this book, I nevertheless highly recommend it. As readers of Lescroart's work know, his character development is excellent and an integral part of the success of this series. The characters age as the series proceeds; their kids grow up, spouses die (as has happened to both Diz and Abe), and close friends can get shockingly murdered. Some cops are heroes and some are crooked, many are dedicated to the truth and avenging the victims but a few such as Cuneo have their own agenda. This is a worthy entry in the series, although the police work is often shoddy (including some of Glitsky's efforts), the courtroom scenes are riveting. Finally, while many readers will probably guess various elements of the murder plot; there is enough misdirection to keep the reader interested and Glitsky's dectective work at the end of the story leads to an unexpected twist that ties together the loose ends while providing a truly bittersweet conclusion.
Tucker Andersen
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