The Collectors
A Chance Cormac Legal Thriller
The Collectors is an engaging thriller in which a determined lawyer works to rescue his friends from the corrupt machinations of others.
In Richard A. Danzig’s inquisitive thriller The Collectors, people’s moral boundaries are tested in the midst of a murder investigation.
Chance is a respected New York City lawyer. After handling a case related to art fraud that tests his faith in the justice system, he learns that his longtime friends, Damian and JR, have become embroiled in a murder investigation in Costa Rica. Both men are former Navy SEALS and passionate surfers whose peaceful lives were interrupted by their discovery of a body on the beach. Corrupt police officials hope to silence them, but Chance, convinced of the importance of friendship, is determined to defend them against such forces. In time, Chance leaves New York for Costa Rica, ready to face corrupt people outside of the confines of the courtroom and rescue his friends.
Damien and JR’s side of the story is used to establish intrigue early on surrounding the murder and the reasons for the connected cover-up. A secondary plotline follows Chance’s personal life, including his unrequited feelings for his assistant, Sally, and his deep feelings of paternal love for Sally’s daughter, Melody. In addition to trying to clear his friends, he grapples with the fact that Sally has a deepening bond with James, Melody’s biological father and tennis coach. Additional characters expand the book’s range, as with a gentle new investigator and former police detective Justice, who works in Chance’s office and with Dr. Renata, an organ transplant specialist in Costa Rica who, after the loss of his father, dedicates his life to saving others through unlawful means.
The book’s settings are fleshed out in terms of contrasts, with notes about small brownstone law offices, bustling courtrooms, police stations, prisons, sunny beaches, and oceanside towns vivifying the story at each turn. Its structure and pacing are also effective, jumping between scenes devoted to Chance and his colleagues in New York and those focused on Damian, JR, and Dr. Renata in Costa Rica in a regular manner. While the chapters vary in length, all hold attention by proffering clear clues about what’s to come. Still, the book’s ultimate revelations are quite surprising and daring, with the preceding suspense and action sequences having paved the way well for the conclusion, which ties the book’s loose ends together.
An engrossing thriller, The Collectors centers matters of faith and friendship in a murder investigation with sinister implications.
Reviewed by
Brandon Pawlicki
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
