A good thriller overall even though the plot faltered sometimes. Interesting characters but the book could have done with a narrative that was more put-together. Would recommend if you are into dark crime dramas.

The Missing Piece is the latest in the Dismas Hardy series by John Lescroart. I have read some, not all, in this series and always enjoy picking one up. In this installment, an innocent man is released from jail because of a legal technicality, which calls into question his actual innocence. The story has many twists and turns and brings the readers along for a thrilling ride.

Is this the perfect crime or a perfect conundrum?

“The Missing Piece” is about one shot, just one bullet, fired, that hits its mark, and changes everything for everyone. It is book nineteen in the “Dismas Hardy Series.” I had not read any of the previous books, but was able to follow the complex narrative. There are a lot of multifaceted characters with multifaceted backgrounds and associations, but the narrative gave me the details I needed; all are introduced with pertinent information. Readers get to know them within the context of the narrative, their appearance, their mannerisms, their opinions, and their ability to hide secrets. This is a conversation driven story filled with what people say to each other, say about each other, and occasionally what they say to themselves.

The action takes place in a week and over many past years. An exonerated prisoner is released, but perhaps he is not actually innocent, but had only been released because of legal errors. This makes him a free man but not an innocent man. Then there is a murder, and another one, or two. Something serious and dangerous is happening; things have to be somehow related, but connection does not mean causation. There is no hard evidence, no pattern, nothing. People are looking, but not seeing. This is a five-hundred piece puzzle, dropped on the floor, with a missing piece.

“The Missing Piece” is a complex story that evolves bit by bit. Each character holds a piece of the puzzle, and multiple points of view bring out the diverse part that each character plays. The seemingly unrelated clues ultimately come together, and the whole story is exposed. The chain of events may be elaborate and diverse, but the motive is simple and uncomplicated. I received a review copy of “The Missing Piece” John Lescroart and Atria Books. And, yes, “Sympathetic Pheromones” would be a great name for a band.

“The Missing Piece” is now available in print, as an e-book, and on audio from independent bookstores, online booksellers, retail stores, public libraries and anywhere you get your books.

So this definitely holds all the cards till the end. When I got down to like the last 25 pages and it still wasn’t revealed who the slippery criminal was, I began to think that maybe they were not going to solve the case after all. I’m glad that didn’t end up being true because I would have been quite frustrated I’m sure. This is an interesting storyline for a novel, with a recently exonerated convict being targeted for assassination, only to have the man accused of killing him meet the same fate. I appreciated the fact that it wasn’t a give me who was responsible for the crime. It ended up being a bit of a surprise. So many of these types of stories it ends up being obvious who the killer is, but I couldn’t really figure that out. I guess this an ongoing plot with these same characters, but I haven’t read any of the other novels, and I can follow the story just fine, so this can stand on its own. Review posted to Goodreads, Litsy, LibraryThing, Amazon, Facebook, Instagram.

The Missing Piece
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Genre: Mystery Fiction
Format: Kindle eBook
Date Published: 3/29/22
Author: John Lescroart
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 304
Goodreads Rating: 4.17

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for providing a digital copy of the book for me to read in exchange for my honest opinion.

Synopsis: No one mourned when San Francisco DA Wes Farrell put Paul Riley in prison eleven years ago for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. And no one is particularly happy to see him again when he’s released after The Exoneration Initiative uncovered evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. In fact, Riley soon turns up murdered, surrounded by the loot from his latest scam. But if Riley was really innocent all along, who wanted him dead?

My Thoughts: This book is part of a series, No. 19 in the “Dismas Hardy” series. While this could be read as a stand alone, most of the characters will be meaningless as the other books prior in the series explained them,so I felt a little at odds and hard to connect with some of the characters. The focus of this book really shifts to Abe Gilsky, the PI that is assisting in the investigation. The plot was a bit complex making my mind spin a little but eventually I figured it out. The development of the characters is well done, if you read the novels before this. This book is best enjoyed as part of the series and not a standalone. While I did read as a standalone, I believe I would have enjoyed the novel more had I read at least a few of the prior books. Overall, not a terrible read and not a great read, it falls in the middle for me.

In this 19th in the series, ex-DA Wes Farrell has an existential crisis, unsure that he wants to continue as a defense lawyer - a slew of murders gives him his answer.

That aside, this episode mainly focuses on PI Abe Glitsky's search for a man accused of murder who skipped bail before his trial - and was then killed himself.

There are more deaths. After Abe is attacked, Dismas and his other friends want him off the case, but he stubbornly persists, and uncovers a vigilante crime wave.

What a stunning read! This is my introduction to the work of John Lescroart and his Dismas Hardy series. It was very easy to imagine this as a screenplay for a movie or TV special. The author put us right into the action and the minds of his characters. If you enjoy detective works, police dramas, getting into a criminal's mind and putting together the steps to solve the mystery, then this book is for you. My thanks to the author and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of this work.

The Missing Piece is my first time reading one of the Dismas Hardy series from John Lescroart and I found it successful on many levels. First, there are characters that are interesting, that I want to know more about whether I like them or not. Then there is the opening situation…a two-fold issue setting: Wes Farrell, one of the attorneys in Dismas Hardy’s firm, is having an existential battle within himself over being a defense attorney at all, since, in his opinion, they all are guilty. Secondly, the Exoneration Initiative has been at work locally and won release for a man Farrell convicted years before of rape and murder.

Ultimately, Paul Riley, the exonerated former client, is murdered and Farrell becomes involved in this new case. The words “innocent until proven guilty” become key to so many actions. This leads to such an interesting and exciting series of events as Abe Glitsky, private investigator for the firm, takes over front and center of the action. I have to say that I became very involved, to the point of positing my own theory of the crime—wrong, of course.

This is the first book I’ve read for a while that I just had to get back to, then had to finish. Guess I will have to read some of the other books in the series.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This was my first time reading this author..
I enjoy legal Thrillers and this one was surely intriguing..esp the whole exoneration case.
Though it can be read as standalone..there are a lot of characters in the legal and investigative department which hv a lot of back stories which took a while for me to catch up and would hv enjoyed it more had i read a few earlier books.
Nonetheless was a good read.
Thank you Netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I had no idea when I started this book that it was #19 in the series. I think it was fine as a stand-alone book, I didn’t feel like I missed out too much on other storylines.

This book had it all, mystery, twists, legal and more. An interesting read!

I received an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

The latest instalment of the long running Dismas Hardy series is John Lescroart’s The Missing Piece. I haven't read the first 18 books in the series and it wasn't an issue for me at all. The author did a fantastic job at bringing in the character back stories and relationships, so much so that I felt like this could have been a stand alone book. When an exonerated convicted murderer is assassinated shortly after his release, his victim’s father is a slam dunk case for the murder. Yet Dismas is on the case as things get complicated when his client disappears and a vigilante may be targeting the Exoneration Initiative.
Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. It may well be the first I have ever read by Lescroart. The characters are all new to me and it was obvious the people in the legal office have a long history. That a law office would spend time investigating the murder of a client seemed a bit far fetched. I did appreciate learning a bit about groups looking into wrongful convictions.

I found it to be slow and kind of all over the place. Glitzky, a retired police detective and the investigator for the attorneys, looks at possible killers in a number of areas. It was like he was grasping at straws, trying to find connections and reasons where there might be none. I felt as one of the characters did late in the novel, voicing his frustration that Glitsky thinks he has solved the murder for about the hundredth time. (3751/4166) Glitsky is a nice enough guy but the wandering investigative work was not a compelling force to make me engaged in the novel. I did finish the book but was not impressed with it enough to read earlier ones in the series.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent and honest review.

Definitely not as thrilling as past novels but I one I was looking forward to. This series has been a comfort read for me. Have read every book since The Beck was a kid. Love the Glitsky/Dismas partnership and the addition of Wes and Gina have been great. I am in the weird place of hoping this series isn’t ending soon, while also wondering if it has run its course.

At any rate, I waited until this book was released to get it in audio and glad I did. The narrator took a bit to get to as she was a tad monotone, but it was a far sight better than page reading this book.

The Missing Piece is a good mystery thriller where there are so many misleading facts that do seem connected and yet they are. If it were not for the relentless search of retired Luitenent Abe Glitsky, the truth would never be found and the culprit would never be punished. The line of thinking behind all cases is how well or how fraught is the law and its rules when it declares a man is guilty or not guilty. A good questioning of the American Law and its consequences for its people. Very good entertainment!

Book Review: The Missing Piece (Dismas Hardy #19) by John Lescroart
Published by Atria Books, March 29, 2022

★★★★★ (4.5 Stars)

John Lescroart's fluid literary style is complemented with themes subtly and undivisively rooted in verisimilitude. Lescroart is not one to shy away from hard hitting issues that matter in real life.

The Missing Piece (Dismas Hardy #19)

After expounding on the twin controversial issues of illegal immigration and sanctuary cities (in Dismas Hardy Book 18), John Lescroart takes on a social justice vanguard: "The Exoneration Initiative".

"Exoneration Initiative(s)", also known as "Innocence Project(s)" are 501(c) not-for-profits peppered across the country that provide free legal assistance to the wrongfully convicted, with a focus on cases that lack DNA evidence.

But, invariably, a convict's exoneration ensues in an unvindicated crime, along with the exacerbation of the pain and anguish of the victim's family, more so if the freed person were to be factually guilty, notwithstanding legal technicalities.

The author covers the difference between factual guilt and legal guilt in the book.

-----

San Francisco, Calif.

Doug Rush is shocked and livid to learn that his daughter's convicted rapist and murderer, and ex-boyfriend, Paul Riley, is being released from the penitentiary. It is the twelfth anniversary of the Dana's tragic death.

The Exoneration Initiative (of Northern California) had reexamined Riley's case and went through all DNA samples. They found the DNA sample of another convict also incarcerated for rape and murder, and that convict, Deacon Moore, confessed.

But Doug knows without the shadow of a doubt that Paul Riley is factually guilty.

Shortly after, Riley is found shot to death...

-----

Front and center in Book 19 is Dismas Hardy's law firm partner, Wes Farrell, defending the victim's father, Doug Rush, accused of murder; the same Wes Farrell who, as then San Francisco district attorney, had put Paul Riley behind bars over a decade ago.

Also front and center is Abe Glitsky, the law firm's hired private investigator who does a sort of "Philip Marlowe" to Doug Rush's "Terry Lennox" (Raymond Chandler's "The Long Goodbye"), relentlessly getting to the bottom of affairs, even after the client's death, until every last "missing piece" is found.

In the background pulling the strings is Dismas Hardy (Factoid: Dismas comes from the penitent thief who died next to Christ in Calvary), managing partner at the law firm of Freeman, Farrell, Hardy & Roake.

A thoroughly enjoyable quick read!

Review based on an ARC from Atria Books and NetGalley.

In The Missing Piece, defense attorney (and former District Attorney) Wes Farrell is feeling burnt out representing people he believes are guilty.

Wes' latest client, Doug Rush, is accused of murdering recently exonerated Paul Riley. Riley served eleven years for raping and murdering Doug's daughter. The Exoneration Initiative (a thinly covered adaptation of the real Innocence Project) got Riley out of prison after another imprisoned murderer confessed to the crimes. Doug vehemently opposed Riley's release. But did that make Doug a murderer? In Wes' eyes, it did. But Wes still was going to defend him.

This book, like others in the series, is a legal investigator procedural. Abe, an investigator at Wes' law firm, is very methodical about the case. The case has a surprising turn in the middle and an even more stunning reveal at the end. Still, the pacing was rather slow. Overall, The Missing Piece deserves 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

Thanks to Atria Books and NetGalley for a copy in exchange for my honest review.

The Missing Piece by Lescroart
Dismas Hardy #19

Innocent or Guilty? Sometimes people who are innocent go to jail, sometimes guilty people get off scot free, sometimes the innocent are released after spending time in jail AND sometimes the guilty are let out on a technicality or for other reasons. This book takes a look at what might happen if a man is released from prison and then someone kills him. Who would want to kill him? Was he really guilty? Was it a relative of the person that he went to trial for murdering? Could it be someone else or a vigilante or something new that happened to get him killed after being in jail? Who will defend the man accused of killing him and…well the story gets more and more twisted as the pages go by and the story continues.

I have to say that I came into this series with book eighteen and thoroughly enjoyed it. This book took me longer to get into and I did wish that I had read the series from the beginning so I would have history of the main characters to fall back on. That said, this was still a good story to read with lawyers, private investigators, police procedural aspects, sleuthing, interviews of potential suspects, cases that overlapped and were similar, friendships forged over time that shored up the story and the characters, and a conclusion that tied all the thread together.

I have a feeling that I won’t be reading more in this series unless it is to go back and begin at the beginning as I do feel it would help me understand the series and characters better. For those that have read the previous books in order, I am sure that they will enjoy seeing Dismas, Glitsky, and Farley again along with some others that are probably regulars to the series. For me, it was a bit like being at a party with everyone knowing each other and chatting away while I sat on the outside trying to figure out what I might be missing.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Who would I recommend it to? Those who have read and enjoyed previous books in the series

Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

Published by ‎ Atria Books on March 29, 2022

The Missing Piece is unlike most Dismas Hardy novels in that Hardy makes only an occasional cameo appearance. The plot is initially carried by his law partner, Wes Farrell, before their investigator, Abe Glitsky, begins to carry the load.

Farrell was a prosecutor for most of his career and prosecution is still in his heart. He assumes defendants are guilty. He assumes cops are telling the truth. He really has no business being a criminal defense lawyer and he’s starting to realize that. Hardy invited Farrell into the firm in a past novel and is willing to let him leave if that’s best for Farrell.

As he ponders that decision, Farrell agrees to handle a murder case. Paul Riley answered his door and was shot in the face. Riley’s father saw a man leaving the scene. He identifies the killer as Doug Rush. Riley went to prison for murdering Rush’s daughter but was recently released due to the efforts of a fictional version of the Innocence Project. Farrell got to know Rush when he was prosecuting Riley for the murder of Rush’s daughter.

The police quickly decide that Rush killed Riley to exact vengeance against his daughter’s killer. Although Riley’s father gives a shaky identification of Rush, the police do what they can to bolster the weak identification because it’s easier than identifying and ruling out alternative suspects.

Farrell thinks the case against Rush is weak but he also thinks his client is guilty. He gets Rush out on bond. That turns out to be a bad strategy when Rush is murdered.

The plot combines a whodunit with a police procedural. Glitsky is ex-police, although he works with the cops when they occasionally show interest in capturing the killer of Farrell’s dead client. Glitsky’s investigation take him to Rush’s motorcycle gang, to a couple of women who were sleeping with Rush (perhaps raising the ire of other lovers), and to a long list of prisoners who, like Rush, were exonerated while serving their sentences.

The plot holds together and is reasonably credible. The novel is noteworthy for its examination of the biases held by cops, prosecutors, and criminal defense lawyers. Cops think that everyone they arrest is guilty. Prosecutors think that everyone they prosecute is guilty. Criminal defense lawyers know that most of their clients are guilty, but they also believe that cops and prosecutors are willing to cheat to get convictions, a practice that sometimes causes the innocent to be convicted. Events in the story force characters on both sides to confront their biases.

The primary characters will be familiar to fans of the series. John Lescroart keeps the series fresh in The Missing Piece by moving Hardy to the background and placing two supporting cast members on center stage. As Glitsky and Farrell recognize that their assumptions stand in the way of serving their clients and finding the truth, they gain an illuminating perspective on the work they are doing.

I give Lescroart credit for writing another fair and balanced novel that emphasizes the importance of following evidence to wherever it leads, rather than basing decisions on pro- or anti-police prejudices. He even presents a balanced view of cops who overreact to suspects who resist their authority, while making it clear that (at least in San Francisco) needlessly violent behavior by police officers is intolerable.

As always, the story moves at a good pace, strengthened but not bogged down by characterization and relationships. Glitsky is the victim of violence a couple of times, adding some action that enlivens the story. False leads create multiple potential solutions to the whodunit. The correct solution does not strain credibility to an unacceptable degree. In short, this is another enjoyable Dismas Hardy novel, one that should not disappoint series fans.

RECOMMENDED

This is book 19 in the Dismas Hardy series. I haven't read the first 18 books in the series and it wasn't an issue for me at all. The author did a fantastic job at bringing in the character back stories and relationships, so much so that I felt like this could have been a stand alone book. There are several main characters in this book, but it is Abe Glitsky who shines. I like the way his mind works, and that he wasn't able to settle on not knowing who killed Paul Riley. He was willing to stick with it, investigating even the tiniest leads in his search for the true killer. While I had the killer figured out very early on, I still enjoyed watching Abe put all the pieces together.

Thank you to NetGalley and Atria Books for the eARC of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.

The latest instalment of the long running Dismas Hardy series, is John Lescroart’s The Missing Piece. With over twenty books spanning more than three decades, most readers will be familiar with these characters. When an exonerated convicted murderer is assassinated shortly after his release, his victim’s father is a slam dunk case for the murder. Yet Dismas is on the case as things get complicated when his client disappears and a vigilante may be targeting the Exoneration Initiative. For fans of John Lescroart, another Dismas Hardy mystery adventure will be most welcomed. As a standalone read it was an enjoyable enough tale with a three-and-a-half-star read rating. With thanks to Atria Books and the author, for an uncorrected advanced copy for review purposes. As always, the opinions herein are totally my own and freely given.