The Manipulator

Lawyer stories have long fascinated the American reading public. Throwing the Mafia into the mix makes the plot even more attractive. The author, a Vietnam veteran with twenty-five years of experience as a Los Angeles police officer and with a Juris Doctorate degree in law, has crafted a massive, almost 700 page novel that blends police procedure with legal thriller as the protagonists battle both the mob and the head of a powerful, socially prominent family. Mac Thornsby knows what it is like to be bullied. Growing up on the streets after being orphaned at a young age, he barely survived a beating from one of the local thugs when first learning how to live on his own and managed to do that only with the help of a stranger. Several years later as the husband of a rich socialite he once saved from drowning, he is again bullied into taking part in an assassination but is saved by a Mafia lieutenant who helps fake the deaths. Circumstantial evidence still fingers him for the crimes, however, and it is up to Deputy District Attorney Jim MacDonald to dig for the truth. His investigation as well as a past love relationship will propel him into a desperate fight for his life, the lives of several others involved in the case, and justice. Filled with intense violence, knife-edge suspense, and possibly one of the longest car chases in literary history, Carnahan’s book has many of the elements of a bestseller. The author could very well have a hit on his hands.