The Motive | John Lescroart | One of the best in the Hardy/Glitsky series

The Motive | John Lescroart | The book is great -

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The Motive

	The Motive John Lescroart, 2004 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 43 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

With their park view and old-fashioned detail, the Victorian houses on San Francisco's Steiner Street were highly valuable. But with their wooden construction, they were also highly vulnerable. So when Paul Hanover's multimillion-dollar home went up in flames, it was all over very quickly. And when the bodies of Hanover and his girlfriend were found in the charred debris, it appeared that the end came even more quickly for them-judging from the bullet holes in their heads. But this isn't just any double homicide. Hanover was a friend-and donor-to the mayor, who wants answers. And in trying to provide them, Abe Glitsky and Dismas Hardy will face an old lover and an old enemy-and follow a trail of evidence that stretches far beyond their usual jurisdiction.

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One of the best in the Hardy/Glitsky series

I live in San Francisco so it's fun to read a series set in My Fair City.

I discovered the Dismas Hardy series of novels by John Lescroart recently in the Goodwill when I was desperate one day for something to read, and bought one of them. I've been working my way through them ever since - kind of bummed that it's taken me less than a month to read what it took Lescroart something like 17 years to write!

I think The Motive is one of the best in the series. Lescroart, as always, does a masterful job of making us interested in both the mystery and the characters' personal and professional lives. He's on a par with the Butch Karp/Marlene Ciampi series by Robert Tanenbaum (er, make that Tanenbaum and his ghost-writer cousin, with whom he had a falling out, effectively killing the series).

The mystery is pretty compelling this time. There's ONE line, half of a sentence really, buried in the novel fairly early on, that signals the novel's main twist. Glitsky and Hardy, normally super-savvy, apparently spent the better part of a year overlooking this angle until it was almost too late! That bugged me, because these guys are good at what they do...but whatever...

One of Lescroart's strongest suits is plot development - BELIEVABLE plot development - where you get to work through, almost in real-time, the thought processes of super-competent people throwing their considerable brains at a mystery, and teasing the truth out of it. He's also really good at writing courtroom dialogue. I mean, I wouldn't know from realistic courtroom dialogue, but I love his courtroom scenes, they're like chess matches!

I really like the way Lescroart weaves in people throughout his novels, in supporting roles, whom we've seen in other novels. It seems, though, that he doesn't have enough time or paper to give each one his/her turn on the stage, so sometimes they make the tiniest guest appearance, and because I've come to know and love them in the other novels, I'm a bit wistful that I don't get to spend more time with them in THIS novel. For example, in this novel, we barely see Gina Roake, and Wyatt Hunt is only mentioned tangentially (his Hunt Club agency was used to do some work off-stage). Conversely, in The Hunt Club, Wyatt Hunt had center stage, and Dismas Hardy appears for about two pages, moonlighting at The Shamrock when Hunt walks in for a drink...say whuh? I think he needs to write a book where they ALL play major roles because I love all these characters.

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The book is great -

I ordered on the internet what I thought was a used book
listed at 1 cent plus shipping and received a new book
at about $9.00 (don't remember exact amount) and got really
mad - apparantly you have to watch the internet order
process very carefully and check everything 2 or 3 times
and I found there is no help desk or support contact
to voice your concerns - so I am doing it here.

This was my first Lescroart Novel, but I enjoyed it!

This legal thriller centers around the brutal killing of a prominent, politically connected socialite (Paul Hanover) and his beautiful fiancee', Missy. Who killed the high-powered duo before setting their newly redecorated masion on fire and why? So, to get to the bottom of the mystery, San Francisco Mayor West asks Deputy Chief Abe Glitsky to look into the death of her friend and biggest supporter. She doesn't believe that her friend killed his lover and then turned the gun on himself, nor does she have confidence in the lead Detective, Dan Cuneo, who suffers from a bad attitude and some kind of compulsive disorder. While the investigation appears to be a "slam dunk" for the police and prosecutor (a suspect is quickly identified, the daughter-inlaw, Catherine Hanover, who appears to have the most powerful motive of all greed and desire for money), Glitsky's instincts suggest that there is more to this case than meets the eye. Unfortunately Glitsky has a lot on his plate. Although he is middle aged (approaching 50, with grown children), he has a young child and one of the way. He also feels guilt about something (that must have been explained in previous books, because it wasn't really explained here...only that it involved a shoot-out)and doesn't want to alienate Cuneo or others in the department. And on top of that, his old partner and holder of the same "secret", Dismis Hardy, is the ex-boyfriend and defense attorney of the prime suspect. And finally, when Abe's son is born, something is wrong (won't tell you exactly what, you will have to read for yourself), and that takes his focus off the investigation.

While the story takes you through their personal lives, the investigation and the trial, you come to agree that sometimes doing your job (i.e., solving a case) is influenced by politics and frankly bad blood between various law enforcement agencies. I work in law enforcement and I know, but I am not saying that this book is 100% realistic, just accurate about that conflict. But most of all, Hardy finds that believing in what someone (Catherine) use to be or use to represent, could influence how you represent them, and may causes you to make mistakes and not see what is really there. Dismas has to face certain things about himself and his life before he can successfully defend a woman who he once loved.

Anyway, I enjoyed the story immensely although there was a great deal going on....it started out as a simple murder investigation, and blossomed into a great deal more (i.e., espionage, terrorism, federal nominations for cabinet positions, Mob relations, identity theft, embezzlement, CIA, FBI, infidelity, etc). But I also liked the underlying theme of "life regrets" (I am not going to tell you all everything, again you have to read the book). For me, that was what is so potent about the story...."if you know what you know now, would you have taken the same road? And this is true for Missy, Glitsky,Cuneo and especially Hardy. And when the puzzle is solved, you find that like "real life investigations", the solution was always there, you just have to be willing to see it.

The only thing that I would suggest is that you read the other books that are possibly in this series. Because I have never read any of the other books, some of the stuff I just didn't get or understand. And although it didn't take anything away from my enjoyment of the story, I was left with a few questions that I could not answer. For example, Abe made reference to his "Senator" wife who killed herself (he never said why), and that Dismas's first wife died, and then there was the whole "shootout" incident that apparently not only was Abe and Dismas involved in, but Cuneo's Lieutenant, who was killed was too. And as a reader, who has not read any of the other books, I still don't know what happened that was so upsetting to Abe and Dismas? So, I just would have liked a few sentences to explain those incidents. But overall, I liked this book and would recommend it.

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The characters are too normal...

...and I'm not talking about Glitsky and Hardy and their families either. I'm talking about the cops, the suspects, the deceased, everyone. San Francisco's a lot more of a zoo than Lescroart makes it out to be. Believe me, that's possible. This is also the only real problem I had with "The Hunt Club": people aren't screwed up enough. Perhaps only the murderer in The Motive could truly say that he or she belongs in San Francisco.

Anyhow, good murder mystery and although some of the preparation leading up to the courtroom part is a little thin, I loved Hardy's cross-examinations and thought they were the best part of the book. In some ways, the resolution of the whodunnit is an afterthought and Lescroart even treats it a bit as such.

One other thing. It's a little vague, so I can't really call it an error, but please note that the Cole was bombed in 2000, not 1999, as is implied in pp. 401-402.

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Huh?

Huh? I agree with other reviewers: is this one book or two? It was very absorbing for most of the book, and I like Hardy and Glitzky (but do get tired of their needy, insecure wives.) Then suddenly, all this, well, I won't say what, out of respect for future readers, but I have to suspect that publishers pressure authors into throwing in "relevant" subjects these days. A good old well-written murder mystery doesn't pass the test, I guess. As others have said, the ending seems contrived , unrealistic, and unsatisfying after the rest of the story.

reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

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