In his third gripping political thriller (after The Nominee
), McGrory—a columnist for the Boston Globe
—brings back Jack Flynn, ace reporter at the fictional Boston Record
as, once again, Flynn sniffs out corruption in high places. Young government lawyer Hilary Kane is fleeing an abortive alcohol-fueled tryst with Daniel Harkins, Boston's aging mayor, when she chances upon a file in the mayor's computer incriminating the mayor's infamous son, Toby Harkins, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives. A few nights later, Flynn is clandestinely contacted at a Red Sox game by legendary FBI agent Tom Jankle, who feeds him an exclusive story that the Feds have evidence linking Toby Harkins to the 13-year-old unsolved art heist at the Gardner Museum, the biggest art theft in history. Shortly after the Record
breaks the story, Flynn catches a fleeting glimpse of Jankle while watching a live telecast beamed from the parking garage under Boston Common where Hilary Kane has been found shot dead. Puzzled that the FBI is trying to take jurisdiction in what should be a local homicide, Flynn breaks into Hilary Kane's apartment and is discovered by her sister, Maggie, who tells him that his front-page story caused Hilary's death. Shortly afterward, Maggie calls Flynn saying she is being stalked. Flynn arrives in Copley Square just in time to save her from an assassin's bullet, but she disappears into the crowd. After one of the stolen paintings is delivered to Flynn at the Record
, the trail leads to Rome and Paris before the sleuthing reporter locates Maggie and learns that the mayor has never lost contact with his hoodlum son and has knowledge of the art theft. Ending with a white-knuckle showdown between Jankle and bad seed Toby, this top-notch thriller is rich in newsroom atmospherics, wry humor and credibly flawed good guys. (Jan.)
