Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780060194413
ISBN number: 0060194413
Label: HarperCollins
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 336
Printing Date: July 01, 2002
Publishing house: HarperCollins
Release Date: July 09, 2002
Sale Popularity Level: 104396
Studio: HarperCollins
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
From the author of the New York Times bestseller In Her Defense comes a riveting new thriller of betrayal and redemption in the nation's capital.
Philip Barkley had come far enough in Washington to know where those proverbial bodies were buried, but not so far that he'd lie about it. In the capital, that was no-man's-land, and his fall from grace was swift.
When personal tragedy accelerates his downward spiral, all that remains is his integrity, and it's the price of a fresh start. The disappearance of Senate Intelligence Committee aide Martin Green indicates a breach of national security. Senator Warren Young, the party's best chance to keep the White House, needs a credible report that the missing man was no spy. Barkley is required to oversee the investigation and deliver the 'right' result.
As the case progresses, the signs grow more troubling, and even an FBI agent isn't what she seems. The pursuit of Green leads across generations, a trail of deception and murder that began with a woman's fall from a Bronx rooftop almost fifty years earlier.
Barkley's odyssey finally brings him to the door of a retired detective haunted by a case he never solved. Together, the two men seek justice -- and their own renewal.
Amazon.com Review:
Phillip Barkley, the disillusioned protagonist of this nifty political thriller, has been sidelined as an investigator at the Justice Department since he blew the whistle on a fundraising scandal on Capitol Hill. About to chuck his pretense of a job and head to the West Coast to restart his life, he's still grieving the death of his daughter when Martin Green, the aide to a presidential hopeful, goes missing in what might be the kind of breach of national security that could destroy Warren Young's hopes for higher office. When Green's body is found, Phillip is assigned to work with an ambitious young FBI agent who's too politically naive to understand that she and Barkley are supposed to close the case before it can taint Young's campaign, not find out who framed Green and why. But whoever it is that doesn't think they've gotten the message will do whatever's necessary to keep Phillip from stumbling on the same truth that got Green killed--including killing again. Double-dealing abounds in this well-written, fast-paced story, which has as many twists and turns as the road to the White House. --Jane Adams
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Rated by buyers 
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Never read this author before, however, from the beginning it got to me. It is slightly different than other books I have read about CIA, FBI, etc.
I would buy more of his books.
Rated by buyers 
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I really appreciated 'Law of Gravity'. This book is one of those that you stumble across after reading dozens of half decent thrillers and ends up re-awakening your respect for the genre. Its not perfect by any stretch, I could quibble here and there with Horn's prose and character development, but for a genre thriller, this is close to as good as you should expect.
What really sets this book apart from the pack in my opinion is that it has a fairly taught story. The plot revolves around a death of a Senate staffer who might have been killed or might have killed himself. Looking in to the matter is a burnt out Justice Department attorney, Phillip Barkley and an investigator, Blair Turner. This duo quickly find themselves at different ends of a coin and the story is stretched in several directions.
Some here in the reviews on Amazon are saying that the story is 'maddeningly convoluted'. I beg to disagree. One of my greatest turn-offs when it comes to novels is a story that turns around and around and your never sure whats exactly happening. Horn manages to slow down the pace enough to let the reader come along for the ride. In my mind he spelled out each step of the investigation and half of the fun was in seeing the several avenues and miss-steps that Blair and Phillip come across.
I would totally recommend this book to anyone who enjoys the genre books, this is not Cormac McCarthy's 'No Country for Old Men' and it is not Lehane's 'Mystic River'. It is however head over heals above Grisham, Patterson, and recent Cornwell.
Rated by buyers 
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Having been recommended this book by Amazon and seeing all the high reviews it received, I approached this book with high expectations. Those expectations were never met. Instead I got a very convoluted story where the main character Phillip, tracks down some hunches and pieces together the flimsiest of clues to tie together a 60 year old murder with the possible current day espionage case.
The book opens in 1955 with a young woman plummeting off a building. It then fast forwards to 2005 with a man who has disappeared after apparently exchanging documents with a Hungarian woman in a café. Phillip is asked to help find the man (Martin Greene). Greene then turns up dead in an apparent suicide. Phillip, having known Greene cannot believe that Greene committed suicide nor does he believe that Greene was doing anything wrong with the Hungarian woman. He is told to let it go and retire to Oregon. Instead Phillip heads to New York where Greene was last seen before the suicide and through the most unlikely of methods, finds out where Greene went. Then he learns that Greene may have learned something about the woman that had fallen off the building in 1955.
This leads Phillip to track down the investigating police officer (McSorley) from the 1955 case and the two of them start tracking whatever leads they have. Whichever, witnesses they interview seem to be immediately murdered.
The book seems to move at a snail's pace and the ending seemed to leave me shaking my head. Having read several books by David Balducci who writes similar types of tales in a much superior fashion, I was greatly disappointed with Horn's book and I am puzzled by all the super positive reviews.
Rated by buyers -
I bought this at a used book sale without high expectations. When I finally picked it up to read a few months later, I was pleasantly surprised. It's rare that I read a work by an author I've not heard of and think, "I'll have to look up other things he's written" but I did with this. The characters may be a little underdeveloped but they are fairly believable, the plot moves along, and there are enough twists to keep you thinking.
Rated by buyers -
The old standby mystery writers, Parker, Crais, Lehane, George to name a few, don't often surprise you. You expect good; you get it. Once in awhile though you pick up a book with an author you haven't read. Such was my experience with Mr. Horn, and to his credit, I now put him in the above list.
I like the 2 main characters. Barkley is a wimp. Sure, life got on its hind legs and gave him a beating. Yes. Sad. Teary. But it's time to get over it. You know. Move on. But Barkley is a mess. Anti-depressants, sleeplessness, and talk about your flight risks? Barkley's packed and ready to go to (???) Oregon.
Agent Turner of the FBI on the other hand is a self absorbed witch, out for herself, motivated not just for sucess but for victory.
Martin Green is a Jewish assistant in the Senate searching for illicit campaign funding. And suddenly he discovers . . . something. We don't know what. But he is hastily accused of treason, and then kills himself. Barkley for the AG's office and Turner for the FBI are assigned to investigate. Turner sees Barkley as an impediment and wants to dump him. Barkley couldn't care less. Except . . . .
In his prozac stupor, Barkley thinks it's odd that Green killed himself because he remembers that while at college, Green spoke out harshly over the suicide of a friend saying that it was the coward's way out and solved nothing. So Green's suicide makes little sense to Barkley.
That's all he has to go on.
I can't tell you how magnetic the book was. And I am pleased by the reviewers who say that the prior book, "In Her Defense," is even better. I picked that up last night. Merry Christmas to me. 5 Stars. Excellent stuff. I'm a fan of Mr. Horn.
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