Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Supreme Justice -- Max Allan Collins

It's a few years from now, and the Supreme Court has taken a hard right turn.  Roe v. Wade has been over turned, there's prayer in schools, and the Constitution's in tatters.  Joe Reeder, former Secret Service agent, took a bullet for the president, but he's too outspoken about his opposition to the president's policies to stay in the job.  

When a Supreme Court justice is killed in what appears to be a bungled robbery.  Reeder has a special talent: he can "read" people using kinesics.  Watching the surveillance video of the robbery, he realizes almost at once that it wasn't a robbery at all but a planned assassination.  Appointed as a consultant to the FBI team investigating the robbery, Reeder faces opposition from some who don't believe what he's telling them, but then a second justice is killed.  Is someone trying to change the balance of power on the court by means of assassination now that a more liberal president is in office? And if so, who's doing it?

Reeder has other problems, too.  His daughter's really annoying boyfriend is one of them, and his pairing with agent Patti Rogers is another.  She doesn't entirely trust him because of his ability to read her so well, and yet at the end, she's the only one he has to rely on.

Max Allan Collins (with an assist from Matthew Clemens) has another winner.  This book rips along, so clear the decks before you start it.  It might be a while before you dare to take a break.

1 comment:

George said...

I just ordered SUPREME JUSTICE. Max Allan Collins is always work reading.