Mobster Nicholas Balagula cut so many corners when he built a new children's hospital that 63 people died when it collapsed. Now he's up on murder charges, and Seattle true-crime writer Frank Corso, who watched Balagula's first two trials end disastrously when witnesses disappeared and jurors were bought off, is back in court for the third one, which looks like a slam dunk for the prosecution. Then Frank's former girlfriend, photojournalist Meg Dougherty, is brutally attacked after stumbling on a connection between a story she's following and the one Frank's hoping to turn into another bestseller. Corso, making his second appearance here (after Fury), is a quirky, engaging protagonist who grows on the reader, much like Leo Waterman, the laid-back hero of G.M. Ford's other series. Ford is a deft stylist whose characters are usually more interesting and less predictable than his plots; maybe he'll give Corso more to work with next time around. --Jane Adams


From Publishers Weekly
After six books about Leo Waterman, a Seattle PI with an eccentric fondness for drunks and deadbeats, Ford created in Fury (2001) a very different kind of antihero-Frank Corso, an ace investigative journalist fired by the New York Times for fabricating a story. Fury was well received, but Corso himself often seemed a work in progress. This second time out, Corso lives, breathes and walks on his own solid legs through the Seattle streets Ford knows so well. He's making big bucks writing true crime books, living on board his boat berthed on Lake Union with a terrific view of the skyline (the description of Bill Gates's Mercer Island mega-mansion as seen from the water is dead on: "At first it looked like a park. Then maybe a trendy waterfront shopping center. Very Northwest. Lots of environmentally conscious exposed rock and wood"). Corso is the only journalist allowed to cover the federal trial of a nasty Russian hoodlum accused of causing the collapse of a Los Angeles hospital; his Fury lady friend-photographer Meg Dougherty, whose body was covered in hideous tattoos by a berserk former lover-winds up in the hospital after stumbling on two of the Russian's hired killers. Those killers, a pair of convincingly scary Cubans; a touchingly fallible female federal prosecutor with a slight drinking problem; a Cambodian apartment manager; a young medical student trying to understand his missing father-are all made so real so quickly that you might miss the considerable artistry involved. Welcome back, Mr. Corso-and Mr. Ford.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Ford's second Frank Corso mystery involves the disgraced journalist-turned-crime writer in the trial of one of the genre's sleaziest slimeballs, Nico Balagula, who is about to get off scot-free from a building-fraud rap (thanks to the disappearance of everyone who has the goods on him). When Balagula's goons nearly succeed in taking out one of Corso's few friends, photojournalist Meg Dougherty, Corso takes an active role in trying to prove the crime lord's guilt, which, of course, puts his own life in jeopardy. Ford serves up great dollops of intrigue, danger, and edge-of-the-seat suspense, and-- though the curmudgeonly Corso would be chagrined to hear it--he gives us a flawed but thoroughly likable protagonist to root for. What more could a mystery fan want? Devotees of Ford's highly entertaining Leo Waterman mysteries will find his new series, which began with last year's Fury [BKL Mr 15 01], at least as addictive. Dennis Dodge
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Book Description
There is the law, and there is justice. The two are not always the same....There is no stronger argument for the death penalty than Nicholas Balagula -- but so far the elusive sociopath has escaped punishment through ruthless intimidation, jury tampering, and the fortuitous deaths of chief prosecution witnesses. Now the bloodthirsty West Coast crime boss has been charged with sixty-three counts of murder, and rogue journalist Frank Corso is the only nonparticipant allowed to observe the closed proceedings, which has placed the reclusive writer uncomfortably in the center ring of the most crazed media circus to hit Seattle in years.Then personal tragedy strikes in the midst of the madness, knocking Corso's carefully protected world out of its orbit. While following her own leads toward another unpunished crime, photojournalist Meg Dougherty -- once Corso's lover and still his dearest friend -- reaches an abrupt and calculated dead end on a bleak and rainy Washington night, leaving her broken, bloodied, and more dead than alive.With the one person in the world Corso truly cares about clinging weakly to life in the I.C.U. -- and with the increasingly likely possibility of Balagula taking yet another walk -- the angry lone-wolf reporter is determined to identify all guilty parties and make them pay, by his own hand if necessary. But the black river of lies, secrets, corruption, and death surrounding the Balagula trial is much deeper and more dangerous than even Corso anticipated....Hard-hitting, gritty, vivid, and unforgettable, Black River is the electrifying follow-up to Fury -- the resoundingly acclaimed thriller that first introduced tough, irascible, wonderfully colorful and complex protagonist Frank Corso to the reading public. With his second sensational appearance, the volatile black sheep investigator earns a permanent place among crime fiction's most intriguing continuing characters...and his creator, G.M. Ford, solidifies his standing as "the Raymond Chandler of Seattle" (San Antonio Express-News).


About the Author
G.M. Ford is the author of Fury, the critically acclaimed debut of Frank Corso, as well as six highly praised mysteries featuring Seattle private investigator Leo Waterman. A former creative writing teacher in western Washington, Ford lives in Seattle and is currently working on his next Frank Corso novel.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"There is no stronger argument for the death penalty than Nicholas Balagula - but so far the elusive sociopath has escaped punishment through ruthless intimidation, jury tampering, and the fortuitous deaths of chief prosecution witnesses. Now the bloodthirsty West Coast crime boss has been charged with sixty-three counts of murder, and rogue journalist Frank Corso is the only nonparticipant allowed to observe the closed proceedings, which has placed the reclusive writer uncomfortably in the center ring of the most crazed media circus to hit Seattle in years." Then personal tragedy strikes in the midst of the madness, knocking Corso's carefully protected world out of its orbit. While following her own leads toward another unpunished crime, photojournalist Meg Dougherty - once Corso's lover and still his dearest friend - reaches an abrupt and calculated dead end on a bleak and rainy Washington night, leaving her broken, bloodied, and more dead than alive. With the one person in the world Corso truly cares about clinging weakly to life in the I.C.U - and with the increasingly likely possibility of Balagula taking yet another walk - the angry lone-wolf reporter is determined to identify all guilty parties and make them pay, by his own hand if necessary. But the black river of lies, secrets, corruption, and death surrounding the Balagula trial is much deeper and more dangerous than even Corso anticipated.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

After six books about Leo Waterman, a Seattle PI with an eccentric fondness for drunks and deadbeats, Ford created in Fury (2001) a very different kind of antihero-Frank Corso, an ace investigative journalist fired by the New York Times for fabricating a story. Fury was well received, but Corso himself often seemed a work in progress. This second time out, Corso lives, breathes and walks on his own solid legs through the Seattle streets Ford knows so well. He's making big bucks writing true crime books, living on board his boat berthed on Lake Union with a terrific view of the skyline (the description of Bill Gates's Mercer Island mega-mansion as seen from the water is dead on: "At first it looked like a park. Then maybe a trendy waterfront shopping center. Very Northwest. Lots of environmentally conscious exposed rock and wood"). Corso is the only journalist allowed to cover the federal trial of a nasty Russian hoodlum accused of causing the collapse of a Los Angeles hospital; his Fury lady friend-photographer Meg Dougherty, whose body was covered in hideous tattoos by a berserk former lover-winds up in the hospital after stumbling on two of the Russian's hired killers. Those killers, a pair of convincingly scary Cubans; a touchingly fallible female federal prosecutor with a slight drinking problem; a Cambodian apartment manager; a young medical student trying to understand his missing father-are all made so real so quickly that you might miss the considerable artistry involved. Welcome back, Mr. Corso-and Mr. Ford. (July 8) Forecast: A plug from Dennis Lehane, national print advertising and a six-city author tour should help lift this one onto genre bestseller lists. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews