The Catch
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
The lawyer jokes were flying when Detective Ed Hathcox finished law school, hoping to join the FBI. But the humor dried up when a serial killer began targeting attorneys. Paired with veteran Detective Hal Barnes, they visit crime scenes where the main attractions are dead lawyers with missing tongues and the killer’s trademark — paper scraps adorned with Bible verses. What’s the connection? The victims were lawyers … but something else tied the murders together … the lawyers’ specialties, political connections, or something worse?
“A spellbinding thriller that takes on lawyer bashing and, on a larger scale, the poisonous impact of hate speech of all kinds. This is a riveting book with captivating, complex characters. I predict you will be turning pages late into the night. Highly recommended." — William Bernhardt, bestselling author of "The Last Chance Lawyer"
"Sharp, witty, and more than a little bloody … The Catch by Mike Farris is one helluva read. Detectives Hal Barnes and Ed Hathcox have an easygoing rapport that propels the duo, and the reader, through this tightly plotted Texas novel. Part mystery, part legal thriller, the latest by Farris is all-around great. Catch it." — J. Todd Scott, author of "The Far Empty", "High White Sun", "This Side of Night", "Lost River" (2020)
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this unimpressive thriller from Farris (Wrongful Termination), Dallas police detectives Ed Hathcox and Ed Barnes look into the murder of Michael Sandford, a plaintiff's attorney who was tied up by someone who cut out his tongue before coating him with dog food and leaving him within reach of a hungry Rottweiler. The killer left a note on the body with a quote from Luke "Woe unto you also, ye lawyers!" that suggests Sandford's death is part of a series. Sure enough, other victims follow, all lawyers, each killed in a gruesome way that Hathcox and Barnes eventually connect with the punch lines of sadistic anti-attorney jokes. The two cops underwhelm as professionals; at one point, they need to be told by Sandford's assistant that they have the option of getting a warrant to access his client files. Graphic gore and ponderous prose ("his gnarled knuckles stood out white against his ebony hand, even in the darkness of the night") don't help. This is a poor execution of an outlandish plot.
