Saturday, September 14, 2013

Deadly Diamonds-John F. Dobbyn

Deadly Diamonds

John F. Dobbyn

Oceanview, Sep 3 2013, $26.95

ISBN 9781608090921



In the predominantly Italian North End of Boston, on a dare from his friends, eighteen year old Kevin O'Byrne steals a car. When the driver shouts at them, the panicky Northeastern student drives the car to South Boston. Inside the trunk is a corpse with the teen’s fingerprints everywhere. Kevin’s dad Irish mafia boss Frank retains lawyer Michael Knight to free his son from a possible homicide rap. Michael and Frank know the vehicle was taken from a man in front of a Cosa Nostra restaurant; so the attorney insists the gangster drop off the car in Roxbury with the corpse still inside and he will contact the cops where it was left while Kevin goes to a safe house.



With Michael present, his partner Lex Devilin meets with his childhood friends Monsignor Matt Ryan and retired mafia Don Dominic Santangelo. Lex asks Dominic to intercede before a gang war explodes due to an idiotic teen. However, the two lawyers fail to grasp the full scope of the potential mob war as blood diamonds extracted by expendable slaves in Sierra Leone are a valuable commodity both mobs want to traffick. Additionally, Matt is accused of child molestation.



The latest Knight-Devilin legal thriller (see Frame-Up and Black Diamond) is an exciting tale that is weighed down by a Cecil de Mille size cast and the over simplified stereotyping of the criminal elements on three continents (includes a trip to Ireland). Filled with plenty of action the two lawyers and their friends try to prevent the hostilities from turning Boston bloody.



Harriet Klausner

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