House of Secrets

March 1, 2010
Extramarital sex leads New York Sen. Andy Foster into major trouble near the start of this mildly suspenseful if overly familiar stand-alone thriller from the pseudonymous Hawke (aka Tim Cockey). Andy's tryst with political consultant Joy Resnick at her lonely beachfront cottage is interrupted by a madman, who crashes into the bedroom, kills Joy, and gives Andy a serious whack on the head. A low-level Russian mobster, Dimitri Bulakov, catches the entire scene on camera. Hawke then turns to stock characters and situations: politicians with evil agendas, a behind-the-scenes puppet master, and a child kidnapping cranked up to supply an infusion of action into the latter pages. Hawke (Cold Day in Hell
) handles these themes well enough, but the ambiguous nature of his main character deflates much of the tension. Is Andy a good person who makes mistakes, or a bad person who gets away with too much? Readers will have to decide for themselves.

May 1, 2010
When practicing to deceive, a U.S. senator weaves a tangled web of murder and blackmail.

Dishy, dashing and brainy to boot, young Sen. Andy Foster is the quintessential golden boy, irresistible when he chooses to be. Too often, however, he chooses to be irresistible to inappropriate women. Andy has a wife and daughter he adores, a job he likes and is extremely good at, and a future bright with possibility, all of which he continually places at risk because he can't keep his endowments zippered. In mid-romp with an accommodating young colleague, Andy is unaware that he's courting disaster. For one thing, he's being filmed for the express purpose of making him vulnerable to extortion. Even worse, that time-honored scenario will suddenly take a Grand Guignol twist when a crazed interloper explodes onto the scene. Within seconds Andy is down for the count and the young woman down for keeps. Battered and severely bruised, Andy manages to recover—not altogether a good thing, he'll think bitterly and remorsefully in the days ahead. So begins the tormenting game of trying to separate friends from enemies while Andy's wondering when certain of his friends switched sides, and while he's coping with that most implacable of enemies—self-hatred.

Strong characters and the usual clean-cut prose make this latest from Hawke (Cold Day in Hell, 2007, etc.) highly readable. With a less cumbersome ending, it would have been brilliant.

(COPYRIGHT (2010) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2010
Infidelity threatens the career and family life of ambitious Sen. Andrew Foster. It isn't just the affairthe injured and panicked Foster was filmed leaving the bedroom of a woman murdered while they were having sex. Too many subplots and an obscure motive for the killing hamper the story, which would have been better as either a political thriller or an examination of the private lives of public figures. Nevertheless, Hawke (Fritz Malone series) knows how to flesh out his characters and set up strong action scenes. VERDICT Give this one to David Baldacci fans who don't mind a little more gore. [Ebook ISBN 978-0-679-60357-3.]

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 1, 2010
Hawke, author of two excellent thrillers starring PI Fritz Malone (including Cold Day in Hell, 2007), abandons the likable New Yorker for this lukewarm stand-alone suspenser about a handsome statesman who succumbs to lust. U.S. senator Andrew Foster loved his wife, but that didnt keep him from engaging in extramarital affairs. When his latest object of distraction is murdered while the two are in bed, Foster foresees the unraveling of his personal life and political career. Thanks to modern technology, even an elected officials most intimate moments are rarely that, and Foster is sure someone saw or heard something. Hes right, though it wasnt the paparazzi; a sleazy Russian with ties to the Mob captured the whole scene on tape. The timing for this turn of events couldnt be worse, as Fosters name is being bandied about as a replacement for the disgraced vice president. Hawkes plot gets a bit sluggish, as he traces Fosters downward spiral and the not-so-shrewd Slavs efforts to capitalize on a senators sins. Engaging but not Hawkes best.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)