Book
Last rights : a novel / Philip Shelby.
Record details
- ISBN: 0684829398
- ISBN: 0671001310 (pbk.
- ISBN: 9780684829395
- Physical Description: 333 p. ; 24 cm.
- Publisher: New York : Simon & Schuster, c1997.
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Conspiracies > Washington (D.C.) > Fiction. |
| Genre: | Political thrillers. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Parkland Regional.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Holdable? | Status | Due Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dauphin | F SH (Text) | 35419000650235 | Adult Fiction | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #2 March 1997
Shelby delivers a spine-tingling political thriller fraught with action and suspense. After General Griffin North, the highest-ranking African American in the armed services and a probable vice presidential candidate, loses his life in a plane crash, his death is presumed to be a tragic accident. While the nation mourns the passing of a hero, Major Mollie Smith, a CID (Criminal Investigations Division) officer and North's former lover, receives explosive information supporting her private theory that North was the victim of an elaborate conspiracy. Before Mollie can prove the allegations, she is brutally murdered. Taken into Mollie's confidence shortly before her death, Rachel Collins, a CID warrant officer, vows to continue her superior's covert investigation. When the evidence indicates the involvement of a Supreme Court nominee, Rachel becomes the next target of an ingenious assassin. The fast-paced narrative features a tautly woven plot and enough unexpected twists and turns to keep the pages turning. ((Reviewed March 15, 1997)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1996 December
~ Another hit of fast, formulaic Washington skullduggery from second-novelist Shelby (Days of Drums, 1996). A blue-ribbon commission headed by Supreme Court nominee Judge Simon Esterhaus has ruled the fatal crash of Gen. Griffin North's jet accidental, ending the government's investigation into the death of the popular African-American who'd been on track to be the next vice-president. But a dying supply sergeant turned grass-roots terrorist brags to Major Mollie Smith, of the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, that North was murdered. Since Mollie was North's long-term lover, she's just the avenger to take the two informants who can nail North's killers under her wing and stash them safely until they can tell their story. Little does Mollie know that she's already in the sights of the Engineer, the jack-of-all-arms who, North's assassination behind him, is methodically chopping off the loose ends. Once she's been dispatched, the role of avenger passes from Mollie to her brother Logan Smith of the FBI and her prot g e, warrant officer Rachel Collins. Smith and Rachel feverishly scan every scrap of paper Mollie saved, and every byte she programmed into her computer, to unearth the informants, whose uneasiness that Mollie hasn't been in touch turns to terror when they find out why. But Smith doesn't realize that he's being set up as a cat's-paw by none other than the Engineer's co-conspirator, Judge Simon Esterhaus, who's just as interested in the informants as Smith is. Looks like it's up to Rachel, who's gone AWOL from her unit, to bring in the informants, protect them from the Engineer and his nefarious cronies, and reveal the assassination plot in all its dark complexity. This time, though, there's precious little complexity--just lots of government employees on the run from each other, and the echo of the Engineer's generic footsteps as the trail turns bloody. Think of a James Bond yarn without Bond. (First printing of 125,000) Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews - Library Journal Reviews : LJ Reviews 1997 January
In Shelby's second political novel, a riveting page-turner that boasts an ingenious assassin known as the Engineer, warrant officer and Army Criminal Investigation Division agent Rachel Collins is the best friend and protégé of Maj. Mollie Smith. Smith has been viciously murdered while probing the death of Gen. Griffin North, a highly decorated African American. Collins begins her own investigation into Mollie's death, searching for the two informants who can lead her to the assassin. She is joined by Logan Smith, a federal agent and Mollie's bother. There are interesting surprises and turns throughout the nonstop action. Collins is both hunter and hunted while tracked by the ubiquitous Engineer on his sinister computer network. One could wish for more character development, but this taut thriller from the author of Days of Drums (LJ 10/15/95) successfully builds dramatic tension toward a satisfying denouement. Recommended for public libraries. Jacqueline Seewald, Red Bank Regional H.S., Little Silver, N.J. Copyright 1998 Library Journal Reviews - Publishers Weekly Reviews : PW Reviews 1996 December #2
Burdened with contrived plotting that depends on miraculous timing and fortuitous circumstances, Shelby's sensationalistic second thriller (after Days of Drums) asks for too much reader indulgence. And that's too bad, because its premise is intriguing: that the supposedly accidental death of a retired African American army general with an eye on the White House was no accident. When Warrant Officer Rachel Collins of Army CID hears the dying whispers of a sergeant who once served as driver for the highly decorated General Griffin North, she realizes that the general was the victim of an assassination plot. After Collins's mentor, Major Mollie Smith, is murdered following her attempt to relocate two witnesses who hold key information, Collins herself becomes the next target of an ace CIA hit man known as the Engineer. Help arrives in the person of Smith's brother, an FBI agent, but the plot thickens when Collins discovers that North was Smith's secret lover. In addition to the requisite high-level political shenanigans and an alphabet soup of covert agencies, Shelby stirs in white supremacists, a venal federal judge, cross-country air chases, glitzy resort settings and steamy romance. It's much too much, and while the final chapters crackle with action, the plot tricks Shelby uses to reach them, as well as his familiar characters, will have long worn readers' patience thin. 125,000 first printing. (Mar.)
