Murder One by Robert Dugoni

Murder One by Robert Dugoni

David Sloane's law partner instigated an intervention due to David's despondency after the murder of his wife. His associates suggested he take some time off from work, vacationing someplace warm. David was indecisive, until one evening while channel surfing he came upon the movie The Shawshank Redemption. This inspired him to rent a house in Zihuatanejo to rest and heal from his wife's murder. The Mexican town was not quite the sleepy seaside town depicted in the movie, but it worked wonders for David's psyche.

Returning home, he accepts a invitation to speak at a charitable event. He planned a quick escape after his speech due to anxiety socializing. As he is leaving he bumps into an attorney, Barclay Reid, whom he defeated in a civil law case a year earlier. One thing leads to another and  David becomes involved with a woman for the first time since his wife's passing. Complications arrive when a upper level drug dealer is murdered. Both Sloane and Reed are suspected of what some consider a vigilante killing.

about pain: "Feeling it every day . . . it's not a bad thing. That's how we heal."
 ,,,he no longer feared the unknown. He'd come to realize it was not knowing the future---the unexpected---that made life worth living.

"Ultimately he had refrained from shooting Anthony Stenopolos, but he could not deny that he had felt the primal urge for revenge, and it had been as strong as any he'd ever had, though not as his instinct to protect Jake. And that was what had ultimately stopped him. It had not been his conscience or some burst of morality, good triumphing over evil. No, the reason he had not pulled the trigger had been something much more practical than divine." (taking care of step-son more important than revenge)

368 pages
copyright 2011
published by Touchstone a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc
$24.99
www.robertdugoni.com