The Missing Piece: A Novel

John Lescroart

Mar 2022 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

USA TODAY BESTSELLER

The beloved New York Times bestselling Dismas Hardy series returns with a “perfect piece of entertainment from a master storyteller” (Steve Berry, New York Times bestselling author) about a relentlessly twisty murder mystery.

No one mourned when San Francisco DA Wes Farrell put Paul Riley in prison eleven years ago for the rape and murder of his girlfriend. And no one is particularly happy to see him again when he’s released after The Exoneration Initiative uncovered evidence that pinned the crime on someone else. In fact, Riley soon turns up murdered, surrounded by the loot from his latest scam. But if Riley was innocent all along, who wanted him dead?

To the cops, it’s straightforward: the still-grieving father of Riley’s dead girlfriend killed him. Farrell, now out of politics and practicing law with master attorney Dismas Hardy, agrees to represent the defendant, Doug Rush—and is left in the dust when Rush suddenly vanishes. At a loss, Farrell and Hardy ask PI Abe Glitsky to track down the potentially lethal defendant.

The search takes Glitsky through an investigative hall of mirrors populated by wounded parents, crooked cops, cheating spouses, and single-minded vigilantes. As Glitsky embraces and then discards one enticing theory after another, the truth seems to recede ever farther. So far that he begins to question his own moral compass in this “hypnotic and powerful” (Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author) thriller that’ll keep you guessing until the very end.

Ratings and reviews

The Missing Piece by Lescroart Dismas Hardy #19 Innocent or Guilty? Sometimes people who are innocent go to jail, sometimes guilty people get off scot free, sometimes the innocent are released after spending time in jail AND sometimes the guilty are let out on a technicality or for other reasons. This book takes a look at what might happen if a man is released from prison and then someone kills him. Who would want to kill him? Was he really guilty? Was it a relative of the person that he went to trial for murdering? Could it be someone else or a vigilante or something new that happened to get him killed after being in jail? Who will defend the man accused of killing him and…well the story gets more and more twisted as the pages go by and the story continues. I have to say that I came into this series with book eighteen and thoroughly enjoyed it. This book took me longer to get into and I did wish that I had read the series from the beginning so I would have history of the main characters to fall back on. That said, this was still a good story to read with lawyers, private investigators, police procedural aspects, sleuthing, interviews of potential suspects, cases that overlapped and were similar, friendships forged over time that shored up the story and the characters, and a conclusion that tied all the thread together. I have a feeling that I won’t be reading more in this series unless it is to go back and begin at the beginning as I do feel it would help me understand the series and characters better. For those that have read the previous books in order, I am sure that they will enjoy seeing Dismas, Glitsky, and Farley again along with some others that are probably regulars to the series. For me, it was a bit like being at a party with everyone knowing each other and chatting away while I sat on the outside trying to figure out what I might be missing. Did I enjoy this book? Yes Who would I recommend it to? Those who have read and enjoyed previous books in the series Thank you to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster – This is my honest review. 3-4 Stars

The Missing Piece - excellent reading - grips your attention from the first page to the last as always. So looking forward to your next book with Dismas, Abe, Devin et al.

About the author

John Lescroart is the New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine previous novels, including the The Rule of Law, Poison, and Fatal. His books have sold more than ten million copies and have been translated into twenty-two languages. He lives in Northern California.