The Vig

The Vig was a decent enough story, but it doesn't really stand out from the pack. In The Vig, a violent felon is released from prison in a case that Dismas Hardy prosecuted years back. After the detective in the case warns Hardy, he runs scared. As the book unfolds it becomes apparent that the killings going on in the story aren't related to the felon. There's more that's lurking underneath the story. Even after the felon gets arrested, Hardy won't let it go. With the help of his friend, Abe Glitsky, they press forward until they discover the truth. There's nothing wrong with the novel, but I just found it a little uninspiring. It's the kind of novel that I would probably forget a couple of months later.

Carl Alves - author of Two For show more Eternity show less

For some reason, I'd never read any Lescroart before. The Vig is a good one to start with. It's not a fast book, which kind of suited me when I read it. It was quite engaging, though. Rusty Ingraham and Dismas Hardy had served together in the DA's office when they send Louis Baker, a cold blooded killer, up the river. Baker vowed, at the time, to make them pay. Years later both of them are out of the biz and down on their luck and Baker's getting out. Then Ingraham is missing leaving a trail of blood. This story has a whole lot of excellent characters and is thick with plot. I'll definitely look for another Lescroart.

I didn't start reading the series about Dismas Hardy as I had thought I was initially reading a stand-alone title. I wanted to back track and read some of the earlier novels in the series but I'm glad I didn't read this novel earlier as I might not have continued with the series. I think my appreciation of this novel is higher due to reading further ahead in the series. This novel gives quite an introspective view of Dismas Hardy as the plot twists unfold and I don't know that I would have appreciated it as much this "early" in the series as the second novel.

In the second book of the Dismas Hardy series by John Lescroart, Dismas is visited by Rusty Ingraham, an old colleague from the District Attorney's office. It seems Louis Baker, a defendent that swore he'd kill both Rusty and Dismas when he was released is preparing to be released. Rusty fears this con will actually come after them, so he asks Dismas to set up a check system. Dismas calls Rusty each morning at 10a.m. and Rusty calls Dismas each night at 10p.m. If either one doesn't call or isn't available when the call comes, the other goes looking for him...or gets the heck outta Dodge!

The very first night of Baker's release Rusty doesn't call, and Dismas finds Rusty's house boat to be the scene of a murder. Dismas is determined to show more make sure that Baker is nailed for the murder, so he's on the case. But when it starts to look like Baker ISN'T the murderer, Dismas has to figure out who really IS guilty.

I listened to this novel on audio, and I have to say I really enjoy this reader, David Colacci. He also read the DEAD IRISH audiobook. He does a great job of creating distinct voices for the characters, the females a little less so than the males. He also doesn't get overly dramatic. Too much drama starts to make everything seem more unbelievable, sometimes even silly. Colacci does a great job of avoiding that pitfall.

There wasn't much mystery to this plot - I believe Lescroart intended it that way. The focus was supposed to be on the process and the insight into Hardy's psyche. It was a slower moving story line as well. I felt that there was too much extra stuff that wasn't really important to the main plot idea, which was sort of the point, that all these coincidences tied in at just the right time to make the investigation more complicated than it had to be. However, for me that seemed to make the plot loose and all over the place. There seems to be a rather unimportant subplot that deals with Baker's neighborhood. Lescroart makes a connection through Baker, but it definitely could have been left out and not had much effect overall. There's also a subplot about the soon-to-be ex-husband of the murdered woman. Lescroart added a lot more detail about him than was actually necessary in my opinion.

There's also a subplot with Hardy and Frannie, Hardy's business partner's sister. That didn't play into the main plot at all. And I was trying to decide why it was not sitting right with me, besides the fact that it really doesn't affect the main plot. I guess the reason is because he only JUST got back together with his ex-wife Jane at the end of the last novel, which is only supposed to take place a few months before this one. And they seemed to be rather serious about getting back together then poof it's over already, and he's completely in love with Frannie. Hardy also commits the big no-no for me when it comes to the "girlfriend." He thinks he prefers Frannie over Jane not because he doesn't LOVE Jane (he thinks he loves both women), but because Frannie NEEDS him. (Insert very dramatic eye roll here.) That whole thing was a little too soap opera-y for me.

And I do still like Hardy as a series character despite that faux pas. I had to chuckle at a few of the dated details in the book. For example, Abe, Hardy's police detective friend, has a son named O.J. Hardy has his share of good one-liners, that always adds to a crime fiction novel. So, I'm not ready to hang up this series yet. show less

Not much mystery. Saw the ending a mile away. However, David Colacci does an excellent job with narration and knowing that the series gets better, it was easy to forgive the simplistic formula for this novel. Dismas and Abe Glitsky both grow as personalities because I love them in The Motive, which was my first Dismas Hardy novel. Dismas has a more stable homelife and Colacci does a better job with Abe's voice in future books as well.

A well written mystery.

While I have read a couple of Lescroart's later books, and really enjoyed, this book in the Dismas Hardy series left me flat.
It just didn't have that oomph that I was looking for. I think this book centered more on the characters and what they were going through more than the actual murder that happened, which by the way was very predictable. The book was just kinda flat to me and dragged along.