Broken Machines is a gritty mystery in the tradition of Robert Parker and Elmore Leonard. James Joseph Donovan stares out his own window, watching as the rain soaks Manhattan and puts a damper on his thirty-ninth birthday. J.J. Donovan is a private consultant - an expert people turn to when they've run out of options. Before the day is out, Janet Fein, a social worker friend, will ask Donovan to help a little boy named Clifford Brice. Clifford's mother Ruby - a prostitute and a heroin addict - has been brutally murdered. The police have a suspect in custody, but Janet and Clifford don't think it's the right man. The police don't seem to care. Janet wants Donovan and his eccentric partner, Doctor Boris Koulomzin, to find out the truth. Neither man can abandon the bright young boy. As they are formulating a plan, there is a second murder... and an attempt on Clifford himself. Donovan finds himself going undercover at a dank manufacturing plant in Brooklyn, where the rats, the criminals, and the immigrant laborers all struggle to make ends meet. It is a place where the people, like the machines, are broken. In this place, there is little room for repair or redemption, but Donovan pushes on. In the process, he and Boris expose a fraud, catch a murderer, and manage to blow up the better part of a city block.
J. J. Donovan is sitting on the beach, his back against a palm tree, watching the sun rise over the Caribbean. He wears the self-satisfied expression of a man who spent half the night reveling with his ex-wife. Donovan and his ex, Kate Byrne, have been enjoying a romantic vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As he sips hot tea and watches the colorful spinnakers on sailboats dancing out beyond the barrier reef, he has no way of knowing that his close friend and partner, the inimitable Dr. Boris Koulomzin, has been seriously injured. Before the sun sets again in paradise, Donovan and Kate will be on a plane headed home. On returning to New York City, they find Dr. Koulomzin bruised and bandaged, with several hundred crusty stitches crossing his face and jawline. The Professor is also scared. The mistaken delivery of a plain brown envelope to his seats at Yankee Stadium has managed to change his life forever. A demented man named Johnny St. John is desperate for the return of that envelope. And St. John, who believes he is the right hand of God, is prepared to mete out his own deadly form of justice. The envelope that Mr. St. John will stop at nothing to possess contains photographs and confidential information about three innocent-looking people--a young actor, a sculptress, and a businessman. These three individuals seem to have nothing in common. Except for the fact that they are all very sick. In this fast-paced sequel to Broken Machines, Donovan finds himself racing against time to save these helpless, innocent people, while trying to expose the man behind a scheme to murder them for their viatical, or death, benefits. Along the way, he earns the wrath of Johnny St. John, a man with eyes so black they don't reflect light, who ultimately threatens to destroy everything J.J. Donovan holds dear.
J. J. Donovan is sitting on the beach, his back against a palm tree, watching the sun rise over the Caribbean. He wears the self-satisfied expression of a man who spent half the night reveling with his ex-wife. Donovan and his ex, Kate Byrne, have been enjoying a romantic vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands. As he sips hot tea and watches the colorful spinnakers on sailboats dancing out beyond the barrier reef, he has no way of knowing that his close friend and partner, the inimitable Dr. Boris Koulomzin, has been seriously injured. Before the sun sets again in paradise, Donovan and Kate will be on a plane headed home. On returning to New York City, they find Dr. Koulomzin bruised and bandaged, with several hundred crusty stitches crossing his face and jawline. The Professor is also scared. The mistaken delivery of a plain brown envelope to his seats at Yankee Stadium has managed to change his life forever. A demented man named Johnny St. John is desperate for the return of that envelope. And St. John, who believes he is the right hand of God, is prepared to mete out his own deadly form of justice. The envelope that Mr. St. John will stop at nothing to possess contains photographs and confidential information about three innocent-looking people--a young actor, a sculptress, and a businessman. These three individuals seem to have nothing in common. Except for the fact that they are all very sick. In this fast-paced sequel to Broken Machines, Donovan finds himself racing against time to save these helpless, innocent people, while trying to expose the man behind a scheme to murder them for their viatical, or death, benefits. Along the way, he earns the wrath of Johnny St. John, a man with eyes so black they don't reflect light, who ultimately threatens to destroy everything J.J. Donovan holds dear.
Broken Machines is a gritty mystery in the tradition of Robert Parker and Elmore Leonard. James Joseph Donovan stares out his own window, watching as the rain soaks Manhattan and puts a damper on his thirty-ninth birthday. J.J. Donovan is a private consultant - an expert people turn to when they've run out of options. Before the day is out, Janet Fein, a social worker friend, will ask Donovan to help a little boy named Clifford Brice. Clifford's mother Ruby - a prostitute and a heroin addict - has been brutally murdered. The police have a suspect in custody, but Janet and Clifford don't think it's the right man. The police don't seem to care. Janet wants Donovan and his eccentric partner, Doctor Boris Koulomzin, to find out the truth. Neither man can abandon the bright young boy. As they are formulating a plan, there is a second murder... and an attempt on Clifford himself. Donovan finds himself going undercover at a dank manufacturing plant in Brooklyn, where the rats, the criminals, and the immigrant laborers all struggle to make ends meet. It is a place where the people, like the machines, are broken. In this place, there is little room for repair or redemption, but Donovan pushes on. In the process, he and Boris expose a fraud, catch a murderer, and manage to blow up the better part of a city block.
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