My Reading Nook

It must be just my luck to have this run on books authored by Stuart Woods. After the last one which was frankly, pretty awful, I approached this one with some trepidation.

I was pleasantly surprised.

Fresh Disasters is a Stone Barrington novel and this one stays well trenched in New York crime and police work which Mr. Woods seems to have some solid grounding in. Stone Barrington is a well defined character who exhibits a polish that is threatened by the case he’s been assigned to by one of the partners in the firm of Woodman and Weld for whom Stone is dependent upon for his livelihood.

Although he knows that Herbie Fisher is bad news, Stone is hired by Herbie to sue a Mafia boss who has sicced his minions on Herbie and rough him up in the process of trying to collect a gambling debt. Stone knows and has been reminded time and time again that he’s putting his life on the line trying to sue a Mafia boss, but Stone is determined to do his best for his client.

One of the twists of the case send Stone a little romance in the form of a masseuse who then brings her own set of complications to Stone’s life — a jealous ex-boyfriend who murders the lovely Celia. Now Stone is embroiled in getting the crafty murderer caught along with being chased by the Mafia boss’s gangsters.

Almost comical in some places, Fresh Disasters is a fun read.

Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods
Published by GP Putnam’s Sons 2007
ISBN: 978-0-399-15410-2