Friday, July 2, 2010

Dog Tags-David Rosenfeld

Dog Tags
David Rosenfeld
Grand Central, Aug 25 2010, $24.99
ISBN: 9780446551526

Billy Zimmerman was at one time a police detective; a soldier in Iraq who returned home a hero minus a leg. Unable to return to his civilian job, he became a thief. His accomplice is Milo, his former K-9 German Shepherd police partner.

On Billy’s signal, Milo retrieves an envelope from a man and runs off with it. Lawyer Andy Carpenter’s friend Pete asks him to get Milo out of police custody. He speaks to Billy who hires him as Milo’s lawyer. Andy makes a strong presentation to free Milo who stays at his house as someone wants the envelop Milo took. Andy also represents Billy who is in jail because he was seen with the gun after the victim with the envelope was killed by the person he was talking to in a car. The case goes badly for Billy because Andy only has hunches that the killing goes back to a suicide bomber in Iraq who killed eighteen people including two American businessmen. The more research Andy conducts, the more he believes that Billy’s case involves Army and Wall St. top brass. The Pentagon, FBI and other Homeland Security agents are very interested in Andy’s information.

Readers will enjoy the antics of Milo and Andy as the lawyer tries to gain the trust of the K-9, but being a cop the dog distrusts attorneys. Andy needs Milo to take him to the concealed envelope. The courtroom scenes are fantastic as Andy mounts a defense with little evidence and plenty of theories that all seem cockamamie to him. With a message to care for of our vets (and not just politically shrill), there is plenty of action in and out of the courthouse, and a strong cast. Dog Tags is stupendous thriller.

Harriet Klausner

No comments: