Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Mad Dog Justice-Mark Rubinstein

Mad Dog Justice
Mark Rubinstein
Thunder Lake Press, Sep 1 2014, $12.99
www.thunderlakepress.com
ISBN: 9780985626808

Surgeon Roddy “Mad Dog” Dolan and Accountant Danny Burns were best friends for over three decades ago going back to when they were in high school.  They partnered with an acquaintance from their salad days Kenny Egan investing in McLaughlin’s restaurant.  However, Kenny’s investment funds were borrowed from the mob; who had other plans for McLaughlin’s.  Ten months ago, Roddy and Danny killed Kenny and a demanding “investor” John Grange as well as their friendship before leaving the restaurant business (see Mad Dog House).

Ten months later, Danny’s wife Angie worries about her husband whose tension is stratospheric.  While she pleads with him to come home from work, someone shoots him.  At the hospital Yonkers PD Detective Harvey Morgan leads the investigation as fortunate Danny recovers at the hospital.  Not long afterward in the parking garage at Lawrence Hospital, Roddy heads to his car only to see someone shoot and kill anesthesiologist Walt McKay parked near him.  Morgan questions him; while Roddy, hiding the truth from everyone, concludes he must bring Mad Dog Justice to those stalking him, his friend and potentially their families 

The second action-packed Mad Dog urban thriller is a tense gritty entry with the consequences of what the two BFFs did continuing to haunt them; as Shakespeare said in Julius Caesar: "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."  Mark Rubenstein provides an insightful morality play with trust and betrayal as key recurring themes.  With a strong support cast and powerful opposites in personality leads, fans will enjoy Mad Dog Justice but should read the opening act first.

Harriet Klausner

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