The Nomination

November 29, 2010
A nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court will stop at nothing to hide a dirty secret in this finely crafted thriller from Tapply (1940–2009). While serving in Vietnam, where he won a Bronze Star and lost an eye, future Massachusetts judge Thomas Larrigan fathered a daughter, then abandoned her and her mother, Li An. Instead of withdrawing from the nomination process, Larrigan engages the services of a hit man to eliminate those who know of his past, including the child's mother. Now dying of multiple sclerosis after a successful movie career, Li An, who became the actress Simone Bonet, wants to clear the air by writing a memoir. Shifting between San Francisco and Boston, the action culminates in a nail-biting finale in upstate New York. Tapply, best known for his Brady Coyne mystery series (Outwitting Trolls, etc.), displays the plot discipline and character savvy that distinguished his writing career and his many fans are going to miss.

Starred review from November 1, 2010
This is the second Tapply novel to be published since his death in July 2009. Outwitting Trolls (2010) was presumably his last Brady Coyne mystery, and this stand-alone thriller may prove to be his very last book. Its also one of his best, a masterfully constructed suspenser that could stand as a model for aspiring writers: heres how its done. The president is nominating a state judge, pure as a prayer, a family man with a war wound, to the Supreme Court. A reclusive retired actress hires a ghostwriter to prepare her memoirs. A female bodyguard, whom we meet as she wrestles a potential assassin to the ground, is in flight from a mobster she betrayed. Theyre all connected, and its a pleasure to watch a master craftsman bring the story lines into deadly convergence. The suspense is real, and the outcome will jolt the most jaded thriller fan. Think you know what will happen when the heroine sneaks up on the baddies holding hostages? Bet you dont. And the mastermind orchestrating the bloodbath at the endknow who he is? Dont be so sure. This is a heckuva read. Ave atque vale, Mr. Tapply.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)