Damage (Abe Glitsky Book 4) by John Lescroart
Read by David Colacci
I have been a big fan of John Lescroart’s Dismas Hardy series for a long time. If you haven’t read any, give it a go. In fact, this series is packed full of so many good, solid characters that it has not just one, but multiple spin off series. Officially Damage is considered the fourth novel in the Abe Glitsky series. Abe, Chief of Homicide and Dismas Hardy’s best friend is the main focus of the story and the catalyst to the investigative side of the novel. Yet, this is also a Wes Farrell novel. Wes is a less than serious, law partner of Dismas Hardy. His irreverent attitude, as shown by his collection of inappropriate T-Shirts, and his unapologetic defense attorney ways made him an interesting character. Yet, now by an electoral fluke including the death of his main opponent and by a very slim margin Wes Farrell is now the District Attorney of San Francisco. With the new lofty job, Wes’s insecurities kick in and he begins to wonder if he can handle the job.
Sadly, he can’t. Farrell comes off as an ineffectual, naïve bumbler and on top of that, a self righteous ass. He goes from interesting character, to an annoying mess, cluttering up an interesting first half of the book. Annoying, bumbling characters are fine when it’s the obnoxious bureaucrat impeding our hero’s fight, but when it’s the hero that is the bumbler, that makes it harder to take. The main plot of the book, about a serial rapist let out on appeal, is interesting, and somewhat saves the book, and if the annoying Farrell character was its only problem, I probably could have looked past it. But, unfortunately the book is full of distracting subplots, and twists as easy to catch as a soft popup. The ending is overly long, trying to tie up loose ends that seemed unimportant after the main story arc had already fizzled out.
Veteran Lescroart narrator David Colacci knows these characters and handles them well. His smooth reading comes across well. With better material, he can make a story ring, but this time, it’s a clunker. For fans of the series, it’s worth the listen, just don’t expect the same quality as some of his earlier works.
Grade: C-
The Guilded Earlobe 
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