As Mayor Oliver Slattery asks August Sloan, his Chief Investigator, “Why should I care about Paragraph Thirty-Eight?” Because one person’s trash is another person’s millions. In order to secure a sole city-wide solid waste franchise, Nutrino Waste regional manager Daniel Hendricks enlists City Commissioner Jordan Fowler, and City Contract/Procurement Director Glennis Saint John. She is a beautiful, ruthless, and brilliant assassin, who realizes the true value of Paragraph Thirty-Eight. With the aid of disgruntled City Attorney Marshall Hunter, Saint John devises a way via Paragraph Thirty-Eight to extract millions from the recently approved Franchise Agreement. The trouble with millions of dollars though is that there are then a million reasons to eliminate partners, and increase individual shares. A sub-plot concerns an upcoming civil trial in which the City is a defendant, and is integral in exposing the motivation for several characters’ actions.

Set during the holiday season, Paragraph Thirty-Eight is a fast-paced political thriller that numbs the senses, opens old wounds, tests the boundaries of trust, and revisits past atrocities. Some live, some die, and through Paragraph Thirty-Eight all are affected in ways unimagined. After reading Paragraph Thirty-Eight one realizes that it is a commentary on social justice, political avarice, arrogance, and the slim difference between sinner and saint.

 

Genre Crime/Mystery Books