Crime of Privilege by Walter Walker
| Crime of Privilege by Walter Walker | |
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| Category: Crime | |
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Reviewer: Sue Magee
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| Summary: There's an uncomfortable link betwen a murder on Cape Cod and a rape in Palm Beach and it's one of America's most influential families. But just why is no one asking any questions? | |
| Buy? Yes | Borrow? Yes |
| Pages: 432 | Date: May 2013 |
| Publisher: Ballantine Books | |
| ISBN: 978-0345541536 | |
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In March 1996 George Becket was a guest at a party in the Cape Cod home of Senator Gregory, patriarch of America's most loved and influential family. Outwardly everything looked wholesome and fun as the Senator did an impromptu song and dance act with his sister but in the library George was present when Jamie Gregory and Peter Gregory Martin raped a young woman who was too drunk to either assent or protest. It was only George's intervention which prevented the assault becoming more violent. But for the young woman, Kendrick Powell, the rape was devastating and before long she was dead. She too was the child of an influential and wealthy family. But the Gregory clan sticks together and no action was taken against Jamie or Peter and it was the senator's influence which secured George Becket a post in the Cape Cod DA's office. It might seem that the matter was closed - but the Powell family were determined that George would suffer for not having spoken out against the Gregory family.
Twelve years later Becket lives the life of a semi recluse: his marriage has ended in divorce, he works on low-level cases in what he thinks of as the office dungeon and eats his meals on his own. He's always lived at the edge of power and allows as little as possible to touch him - until the day when he's approached by the father of a girl who was brutally murdered many years ago and her body dumped on the edge of a golf course. He wants to know why none of the information which he's been feeding to the District Attorney has resulted in the people whom he believes to have murdered his daughter being questioned. George has no answers.
George is a superb creation. He's on the edge of power: intellectually he knows about it and understands what it can achieve. It's just that the fact of it is so different. He's dealing with people whose wealth is without number, who have the power to make and break other people's lives on a long-term basis and who are prepared to use that ability almost casually. They're the people who will use the law but don't see it as applying to them. And George realises the truth of all this, whilst a still, small voice in his head mentions that he accepted the Gregory influence in return for his silence. He fights corruption whilst recognising his own dishonesty.
It's a thriller that begins with a slow burn: events which happened years apart come together and start a blistering hunt through Idaho, Hawaii, Costa Rica, France and New York. I read it over a cold, wet winter weekend and felt much better for doing so.
If this book appeals then we think that you'll also enjoy The Double Game by Dan Fesperman
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