Customer Reviews

Damage Control

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is an extremely well-written novel that moves along quite rapidly. The chapters are fairly short, so that the reader can put the book down (if he or she findss that possible) after just several pages, and continue reading later. I couldn't do that: I was hooked from the initial murder, and read my way all the way through it until the (expected, by me) ending. The characters well fairly well drawn, and the author creates quite a bit of sympathy for the female protagonist. If you want to spend some hours being captivated by a tremendous thriller, you will do well to pick up this book!

This is a fast-paced convoluted twist of a thriller. We have our main character, lawyer Dana Hill, whose brother James is killed in an apparent blundered robbery attempt. But when she is cleaning out her brother's house, Dana finds a rare, custom-made earring that leads her to suspect there was more going on than just a bungled robbery.

She teams up with the detective in charge of the investigation, Michael Logan. Together they try to track down what really happened, who did what and most importantly, why.

The investigation leads Dana to Hawaii, and into the world of politics and high society in the Washington State area.

There are too many bodies cropping up to lead to the misconception that this was a random act.

The writing is relevant and believable, leading one to keep reading to see where the plot goes next.

Along with the main plot there are subplots, Dana's issues with breast cancer, a failed marriage, her conflicts with her employer and of course the relationship between her and Detective Logan.

The background scenery makes one want to visit Seattle, if nothing more than to see the landscape and experience the majesty of the area revealed in the text.

This is a good book to curl up with on a rainy afternoon and just keep reading until the end.

They say "bad news comes in threes." Dana Hill is experiencing it firsthand. Her fatal trifecta? Breast cancer, her twin brother's murder, and a cheating dog of a husband. For a woman with a promising career and young family, things can't look much darker. Or can they?

Dana is convinced her brother's murder was more than a burglary gone wrong. Between disturbing clues and a man impersonating a detective, things aren't making sense. As an attorney and grieving sister, Dana is determined to get to the truth--even if she has to put off lifesaving cancer treatment.

In his new thriller, Robert Dugoni invites readers on an emotional journey ripe with the promise of danger. Believable characters and Seattle's lush, if soggy, location anchor the story with a great setting. The plot, however, falls just short of its potential.

Dugoni took a risk in throwing three major life challenges in Dana's direction. When presenting so many issues, an author risks shattering the reader's "suspension of disbelief," the willingness to accept the situation at face value. It's hard to believe that all these things could happen to one person within the space of week. Even though Dugoni wove these situations together in a fairly smooth manner, many readers will find it's too much of a stretch.

The other aspect that detracted from the overall feel of a thriller was that Dugoni pulled some important punches. He could have raised the stakes a great deal higher by having the villain pursue additional, personal targets. I kept expecting the bad guy to "go there" in order to terrify Dana, but I was disappointed.

Overall, this is a decent read. Because of the overreaching arc and missed terror potential, however, I can only give this novel an average rating.

This is an interesting novel incorporating murder, cancer, divorce, politics and the law. I know I have excluded other themes but I have listed the main ones and this is the slight weakness with this thriller. There are too many issues and I believe the reader would be better served with concentration on a few less. Dana Hill, twin, attorney extraordinaire, perfect mother, and possible breast cancer victim is an overworked working mother whose twin brother is killed in a brutal attack. She is having severe marital problems, her husband, Grant, does not behave well in any scene. He is a total jerk and we wonder why she ever married this loser. Anyway, Dana, in her grief-stricken state, is bound and determined to find the killer of her brother. Without revealing any more of the plot, Dana is able to resolve many issues which involve politics, spousal abuse and priceless jewelry design. I actually believe the most interesting part of this book was the Acknowledgements section by the author who gives us a fascintating background into his own family.

Robert Dugoni brings us a new cast of well-developed characters in his latest novel, Damage Control.

Dana Hill, a talented Seattle attorney, has it all: A wonderful job at a prestigious law firm, a big house in the suburbs, a beautiful little girl, and what she perceives as a solid marriage to her college sweetheart.

The perfect life begins to unravel with a routine breast exam that peeks her doctor's interest and reels in every woman's greatest fear. More poking and prodding, discussion of tests that end with "ectomy" and more long waits. The same day, her husband tosses his responsibility for picking up their daughter and seems oblivious to Dana's medical situation.

Dana's world spirals out of control when her twin brother is brutally murdered in his home the same evening that she has had to postpone a meeting to discuss a problem he has.

Feeling stranded in a life that she feels is rife with deception, Dana soon concludes that her husband is also unfaithful. Could it get worse? Yes. The two men Seattle Police Detective Michael Logan suspects as having killed her brother are found murdered in separate locations, in such a way as to suggest their killer is a ruthless professional.

When it appears all leads are lost, Dana finds an earring underneath her brother's bed. As she digs for the truth to her brother's murder, the earring becomes the catalyst in the investigation that will draw more death and destruction into its wake. Everything hinges on an inscription on the earring placed there by the designer, a long-retired artist who created one-of-a-kind pieces for very special clients.

Together with Det. Logan, Dana Hill pieces together a tale that gives her understanding to her own life, as well as that of earring's owner, a powerful person in their own right that is about to take steps that will lead them into the highest seats of power in the country.

Robert Dugoni has created yet another great tale of deception and intrigue, providing us with characters who have special problems that make them realistic and easy to love.

Armchair Interviews Says: A great second book from best-selling author. You will not be disappointed!

Someone is murdered early in the first chapter. Immediately, you want to know why. The chapters flip between Robert and Elizabeth Meyers and Dana Hill, seemingly unrelated stories. However with many twists and turns their stories become one. Dana Hill divides her time between being a busy associate at a law firm, and being a good mother to her beloved daughter. Her marriage is not what it once was. Her husband has always struggled with the fact that Dana was the better lawyer. Her brother James gave up a law career to teach. He had never been happier albeit for calling Dana saying they needed to talk. They never did before James was killed. Dana herself is in and out of the doctor's office. Robert and Elizabeth Meyers seem like the golden couple before their lives unravel. An exciting thriller to read and recommend.

Mr. Dugoni has an excellent writing style and has introduced several intriguing characters (Dan Hill, William Welles, Carmen, Michael Logan). The book just sucked me in from the beginning and held me.

Dana Hill has a rough time with her brother being murdered, her job in jeopordy, going through a breast cancer procedure, and having a cheating husband. She stumbles on an earring that may be the key to her brother's death. This search for the truth becomes her driving force and makes all her other troubles secondary. The author just lets the plot unfold without some of the cheap gimmicks imposed by many of the other current thriller writers.

One of the side benefits to reviewing books on Amazon is that friends of mine are often on the lookout for books for me to read which is how I happened to find Robert Dugoni and this rather mesmerizing book, Damage Control.

It is not until nearly the books end, that a murder which takes place in the first chapter falls into place and becomes a part of the entire canvas that Dugoni has painted. The central figure in the montage is Dana Hill, a Seattle lawyer who's life is becoming over stressed as she learns (1) of the murder of her brother in what appears to be a burglary gone bad (2) that she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and eventually (3) that her husband is cheating on her. Putting everything on the back burner except the murder of her brother, Hill becomes involved in trying to unravel the reasons behind his killing and in so doing she finds that there are powerful forces who not only wanted her brother dead, but they are deterimined to see that the real reason behind his killing never becomes known and are willing to keep killing to make sure it doesn't.

Tightly written with memorable characters, this is a novel you should not let pass you by.

Robert Dugoni is a former practicing attorney. Therefore, it's no surprise that lawyers abound in DAMAGE CONTROL, even if courtroom scenes do not. The chief protagonist in Dugoni's second novel (following THE JURY MASTER) is Dana Hill, an ascending star in a high-profile Seattle law firm. Hill is the chief breadwinner in the office and head bottle washer at home, attempting to raise her young daughter in spite of her other child, Grant Brown, who happens to be her husband. Brown is consumed by the god of self-importance, a delusion that makes it easier for him to live with the fact that he is married to a woman who is smarter, more successful, more giving and generally just better than he is.

Hill's balancing act begins to fall apart when her life sustains multiple physical and emotional traumas. She is diagnosed with breast cancer, her beloved brother James is brutally murdered, and her husband's affair of some months is revealed. It is almost foreseeable that Hill sets aside her personal problems to discover the circumstances behind her brother's slaying. Her only potential clue leads her to risk her job and her life as she pursues an enigmatic and mysterious individual who quietly may hold the key to the secret that James coveted and that ultimately resulted in his death.

DAMAGE CONTROL is far more than a thrilling whodunit, however. Dugoni presents an interesting metaphor here, setting up a situation wherein Hill, by putting everything at risk, ultimately obtains the key for saving herself. And while Hill is the primary protagonist, it is the secondary characters who shine and ultimately propel the book. One, Dr. Frank Pilgrim, is an elderly pediatrician in the twilight of his career; he appears only in the beginning yet provides a quiet impetus for all that occurs throughout --- though we don't learn how or why until almost the very end of this fine work.

Then there is William Welles, a legendary and reclusive jewelry designer who does not enter the narrative until well into the halfway point of the book. While present for only two short chapters, he provides resolution for not one but two main plot points. And let's not forget Carmen Dupree, a housekeeper possessed of a bottomless well of quiet strength who, even though she doesn't meet Hill until the end of the book, indirectly provides the means by which Hill ultimately is able to visit a rough justice upon her brother's murderer.

DAMAGE CONTROL is a literary thriller that reveals the true depth and richness of Dugoni's talent. While drawn from the wellspring of intellect, it is obviously written from the heart. You simply cannot get a better combination than that.

--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

Dana Hill is a lawyer at a prestigious law firm and lives with her husband, Grant, and three year-old daughter in Seattle. She had been a rising star at the law firm but when she decided to go part-time so she could spend more time with her daughter, Molly, she had been removed from the partnership track and placed in Marvin Crocket's department. A very demanding man, Crocket is the managing partner of the business department and a workaholic. He keeps the pressure on Dana and doesn't make her life easy.

Dana and Grant are at odds with each other because she has proven to be a more successful lawyer than him. Grant is self-centered and after ten years of massaging his ego, Dana is just about wiped out. To add to her stress, she found a lump in her breast which is diagnosed as cancerous.

Then her twin brother, James, is murdered in his home during a robbery. As she gives the Eulogy at his funeral, she vows to herself that the best way to honor her brother is to find out why he was killed. After finding a diamond earring, worth about $50,000. with its pair, under her brother's bed, she uses it as her starting point and follows a trail to a very wealthy, corrupt and evil man.

Detective Mike Logan has been assigned to James Hill's murder case. At first he believes that it was a robbery gone wrong, but as the bodies pile up, he is convinced that Dana is on the right track and sets out to help her. Logan and Dana are attracted to each other but Dana must get her life in order before they can find happiness together.

I found this book to be a very satisfying read. It is a well-written, in depth and emotionally charged novel. The characters are believable and there is plenty of action. Dana is heart broken over the death of her twin, but the outcome left me contented that she will be able to move on with her life and be as free as her brother wanted her to be. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.