Black Maps

Makes a departure to have a PI that comes from a financially secure background. Hints at his backstory are interesting and makes you wish there was a prequel dealing with that aspect of his life. An engaging character and a plot that while interesting is not overly complicated and with not too many convoluted twists and turns just for the sake of it. Will continue with this series as for the first book in the series it promises to get even better.

Complex Debut Novel: Black Maps by Peter Spiegelman: In this debut novel, author Peter Spiegelman has created a complex and entertaining character, John March, who hopefully will be at the center of many mysteries to come. John March is now a private investigator three years after his life collapsed with the death of his wife thanks to a serial killer he was stalking on behalf of his employer at the time, the FBI. The pain is still fresh as are the constant and well-meaning efforts from family concerning his chosen profession. After all they reason, when one is born to money one should stay in a money field to make more and what he does for a living is so unseemly.But March goes his own way as most loners do and at the request of a show more friend takes the strange case of Rick Pierro. Rick is wealthy by anyone's standards and is being blackmailed. From documents the blackmailer supplied and is threatening to use, it appears that Rick was a small part of a massive money-laundering scheme years ago. Part of the scheme has come to light in the last year or so and multiple investigations are underway. While Rick admits to doing business deals with the principals named in the documents, he claims that the documents themselves are fakes and that all his deals were and still are legit. With his job on Wall Street in jeopardy, Rick wants to pay off the blackmailer once, if the person can be convinced not to come back for more. Rick can't afford a hint of scandal should anything come out but has no intention of being bled dry either. March thinks the whole deal is strange and problematic at best but agrees to do what he can. Before long, he suspects that Rick is lying to him and that Rick isn't the only one that the blackmailer has blackmailed. But the blackmailer, who takes offense at being looked for isn't the only one that has resources to deal with March. So too does a Federal Prosecutor and her task force which have to show result from months of investigation and at this point, they don't care how they go about it. Hammered from all sides, March works the case in this complex and enjoyable novel. March is multi layered and complex as are many of the supporting characters. These characters were not cut out from cardboard but are instead created and soon come alive in the reader's imagination as the work moves forward. At the same time, the storyline continually twists and turns as the novel works towards a conclusion hidden in the shadows. Nothing is what it seems or appears to be and as things move forward, events and characters get murkier and murkier in this gritty novel. This is an amazing book that this review does not do justice and is well worth the read. show less

A good first novel. The writer builds the tension slowly, but relentlessly. Not for a second does the pressure let up. It’s not a jerky novel, driving from scene to jarring scene. It builds slowly and in an interesting way. There are hints of March’s back-story sprinkled liberally throughout. We also see him interacting with his family in present day. They all look down on him and consider him a great disappointment. He tries to shake it off but he really can’t. He’s looking for approval.

The upshot is that Pierro may or may not have had legitimate dealings with a now known criminal bank. His whole life is about to go down the crapper if the blackmailer doesn’t get paid. As soon as John hits upon the trail of the banker that show more Pierro dealt with, the feds come down hard. They’ve been investigating this same crooked banker and want March to back off and tell him who his client is. He doesn’t and eventually they back off a bit.

He finds out who’s been sending the faxes and it’s the security guy who worked for the crooked banker. But is the crooked banker behind it? at first we’re led to believe this is true, but he turns out to be dead. John lays a trap for the blackmailer who falls into it and reveals himself. It’s a guy involved with the clean up of the now defunct criminal bank and the security guy who used to work with the crooked banker. One ends up killing the other and coming after John who is caught with his upstairs neighbor and would-be love interest. Luckily the love interest/neighbor is a kickboxing fanatic and nails the guy a good one. Then she and March beat the hell out of him and he ends up going through a window and falling several stories to his death.

It’s got to be hard to write a unique and striking PI characters these days. It’s all been done before and John March isn’t really different. He’s an outcast with a major fuck-up and a major tragedy in his life. He’s a loner with a non-existent love life. Instead of being a boozehound or a womanizer, this guy is a running addict. He’s smart and alone and has no sidekick and no cliché pet. show less

I guess the big question is whether corporate crime can really carry a novel without boring the average reader. IMHO, the answer is no, unless there are a lot of dead bodies and humming tension.

PS does some things right. He knows his stuff (but if that was enough, I'd be writing crime novels about growing roses). He is gifted in creating characters with a few short and often wry words. And in the end, he put together a sufficiently fast-paced and bloody (loved all the visits to the hospital!) ending. Also, I did love the final encounter with Helene, where John realizes the true danger of this genteel but ruthless liar. Helene's hypocrisy and corruption is breathtaking.

But there just isn't enough at stake (until guns start being pointed show more at protagonist John March). The first hint of a threat (that Trautmann might be dangerous) comes 3/4 through the book. Too late! this leaves John inadequately motivated. Also, the main bad guy - whose exploits are given lots of coverage - is DEAD. This is not a paranormal. Nassouli is going to stay dead. So he's not a threat. So he can't up the tension. I think this is a major mistake.

Now for the backstory. It's too early to judge since this is only the first book in the series, but I'm not sure it works. Some of it is just too trite (hero has lost his wife and given up the badge; he runs to release tension). But PS gives away the store: he killed his wife's killer already (so the guy can't return in future stories); his old foe from the PD is a buffoon (not a worthy or useful enemy). On the other hand, there's a lot of promise in his siblings, all wealthy from his family company, most working there and mostly of the opinion that John is a waste.

There are WAY too many characters; some of this could be addressed if PS finds a way to indicate minor players so that the reader doesn't struggle to remember them all. I think this might be a problem with a corporate-crime book, however, as forensic accounting necessarily requires a lot of people working in concert.

Three things that got on my nerves (which actually improved over the course of the novel and will probably be fixed in the next one):
1. Too much detail - telling every minute including irrelevant actions (transportation from place to place, mundane housekeeping, sleeping etc.)
2. Too much description (this made me want to pull my hair out). PS describes *every* item of clothing that *every* character is wearing, and lists every thing ingested at every meal. Buildings and furniture are described to the point that you can draw a blueprint. Not only is this unnecessary but it stops the pace like a flung frying pan.
3. Wierd paragraph delineation - where tags are stuck to the previous paragraph - also too many tags - e.g.
"Blah blah blah," Neary said. "Blah blah." He pointed a finger at me. "And blah blah blah, too." I nodded.
"I agree," I said. show less

A so-so procedural about an idiosyncratic private eye who is tasked to unravel a complicated financial blackmail case. Nothing much new, nothing much special. This is the first book in a series, and although it won awards for best first novel, the writer's inexperience shows. There is the kernel of a great idea here, but it needs better execution. Right now, the best works in the genre of financial disclosure in the light of the current recession are non-fiction works.

Black Maps was a pick for my mystery book club, and I found that I did enjoy reading about John March. Throughout the book, we get hints of what happened to March three years before with the death of his wife. March is still reeling from these events and the reader can see that March’s loved ones are still concerned for him. March takes a case that involves a white-collar crime and blackmail. Despite the lack of information to work with, March finds himself on several people’s hit list and making new enemies in addition to an old one. Spiegelman does a great job at providing the reader with a story full of many twists and turns and has created a likeable character in March. Overall this was a good read.

If our library was not closed due to the coronavirus shutdown, I doubt I would have finished this book. Although it is set in the realm of high finance, it is still a very tired plot line with the hero getting beat-up a few times and finishing off the bad guy on the last page. The high finance part was very interesting but the idea of Private Investigator being on the outs with law enforcement at all levels is boring.