Terrence Mullaly is the antihero of ex-Governor William Weld's surprisingly cynical political thriller.  When Mullaly hotfoots it out of Brooklyn and his assistant DA's job, he settles in Boston working big buck criminal defense cases.  Much to his surprise, he is recruited to run against the incumbent DA and actually wins.  Suddenly, a seat in the Senate and life with the blue bloods seem to be within reach, but then his crooked past catches up with him.

Weld is trying awfully hard to be funny here and the effort shows.  Hopefully in future efforts he'll relax a little and ease up on the snappy banter and wisecracks.  As is, he's produced a passable first novel that you can finish on a three hour plane ride, no sweat.  But don't expect much of it to stick.  It's sort of Primary Colors by way of Mickey Spillane.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (C) Orrin C. Judd

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