Diary of a Small Fish [Kindle Edition]

Pete Morin (Author)

Book Description

When Paul Forte is indicted by a federal grand jury, everyone suspects prosecutor Bernard (don’t call him “Bernie”) Kilroy has more on his mind than justice. Then the FBI agent in charge of Paul’s case gives him a clue to the mystery: Kilroy is bent on settling an old family score, and he’s not above breaking the law to do it.

Paul is already dealing with the death of his parents and divorce from a woman he still loves. Now, with the support of an alluring grand juror, Paul must expose the vindictive prosecutor’s own corruption before the jury renders a verdict on his Osso Buco.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Pete Morin has been a trial attorney, a politician, a bureaucrat, a lobbyist, and a witness (voluntary and subpoenaed) to countless outrages. He combines them all in his debut novel, Diary of a Small Fish. Pete’s short fiction has appeared in NEEDLE, A Magazine of Noir, Words With Jam, 100 Stories for Haiti, and Words to Music. He published many of them in a collection titled Uneasy Living, available on Amazon and Smashwords. When he is not writing crime fiction or legal mumbo jumbo, Pete plays blues guitar in Boston bars, enjoys the beach, food and wine with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two adult children, and on rare occasion, punches a fade wedge to a tight pin surrounded by sand or water. He lives in a money pit on the seacoast south of Boston, in an area once known as the Irish Riviera. Pete is represented by Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency.

Product Details

• File Size: 563 KB
• Print Length: 392 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1466255277
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005Q33C1K
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #195,805 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This book has it all...... June 12, 2012

By David Schwartz

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This novel has it all. Good food, good booze, good women, good sex, lots of Boston, and a wonderful protagonist, imperfect, but very human and very likable. The plot is gripping - a man is unjustly accused of a series of federal crimes he didn't commit by an overzealous US Attorney. The hero, Paul Forte, is a lawyer himself, and a former Massachusetts state legislator whose love of golf ("love of golf" seems an understatement) has landed him in a world of pain. I won't spoil the plot, just to say that the denouement is completely satisfying.
Okay, I need to come clean - I went to high school with the author, Pete Morin, but we did not know each other well, and I hope readers will believe me when I say that I wouldn't be raving about the book if I didn't love it. Seriously.
Diary would make a great movie.
And I'd like to see more of Paul Forte in a sequel. But I'm sure Morin has many other great stories up his sleeve. Watch out for this guy. He's VERY GOOD.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Legal Thriller March 11, 2013

By ESLGuy1988

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I thought this debut novel by Pete Morin was a great way to start a writing career. The plot was good, the charachters were well developed, the dialogue was very fluid and easy to follow, and all the other small parts of the book just came together very clearly. Only took a couple days to read, and every time I had to stop reading, I was thinking about what was going to happen next in the saga of the main character.
Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good legal thriller or thriller in general.

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining book, and not just for a first effort February 23, 2013

By Brent Butler TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Kindle Edition

I came across Pete Morin in some of the Amazon Forums. I've noted his posts for quite some time, and through them knew that he had published a book. Finally deciding that I liked the timbre of his posts in the message boards enough to see what I thought of his fiction, I stopped procrastinating and read the preview of his book. All of it. And I wanted to know how it turned out. This is a better compliment than it might seem, because this brand of fiction is not my normal fare. It is generally difficult to pry me away from science fiction and heroic fantasy, although I stray to some old fashioned mystery like Earl Stanley Gardner and Agatha Christie for a few reads a year, along with some dabbling into Jonathan Gash, who intrigued me after I came to enjoy Lovejoy through the TV series (which has a decidedly different flavor than the books!) But enough of that, let's move on to more about what I thought about this book specifically.

Keeping in mind that this is a first novel, I saw signs of that. Early on, the hero's character is described more than it is demonstrated. While the story was captivating, the lack of real meat on the hero's bones was leaving me flat. This was supposed to be a fun guy, a smart guy, a well liked guy ... an interesting guy. The problem was that I wasn't feeling it from the action and dialogue in the book.

That improved. Particularly in the last third of the book the hero's character really came to life. It didn't have to for me to like the book. I already was enjoying the book and was intrigued by the plot. However, when the hero's character bloomed in the prose, I REALLY started to delight in what I was reading. A hero who spent the first half of the book apologizing for his spunk (and not showing enough of it), spent the last half of the book increasingly commanding his environment with it, and that got to be a lot of fun.

Morin has a real talent for setting a mood and drawing you right into it. If you aren't the coldest fish out there, you'll feel the hero's emotions (narrated in the first person), almost as keenly as he does. I felt real anxiety as Paul did, and almost cried when he did. As a reader, you can't get much more involved in a book than that.

I mentioned Jonathan Gash earlier, and it wan't by chance. A lot of the style of this book reminded me of Gash. As the book progresses, a complex cast develops, often mentioned casually, and at times in a frenzy of important scenes and details. You'll need to be on your toes to keep up with these sections. :-) The resolution of the climax particularly reminded me of how Gash handles the end of his books. I won't say more so that I don't provide spoilers, but when you finish this book, if you've read Gash, let me know if you agree.

It's a cliche to say that you can't put a book down, but after I bought it last night I was honestly still trying to read and virtually prop my eyes open to continue at a very late hour. It became pitiful. I finally gave in and went to sleep, then finished it this evening.

I hope that Morin will give us more of this character in the future. Since he got a bit of a slow start in this book, by the time I really got to like him the book was over far too quickly. We're owed a follow-up story about Paul Forte, and I mean that, damn it! LOL

Obviously, highly recommended.

More About the Author

Pete Morin has been a trial attorney, a politician, a bureaucrat, a lobbyist, and an astute witness of human behavior. He combines them all in his debut novel, Diary of a Small Fish, and his short story collection, Uneasy Living.

Pete's short fiction has appeared in NEEDLE, A Magazine of Noir, Words With Jam, 100 Stories for Haiti, and Words to Music.

When he is not writing crime fiction or legal mumbo jumbo, Pete plays blues guitar in Boston bars, and on increasingly rare occasion, plays a round of golf. He lives in a money pit on the seacoast south of Boston, in an area once known as the Irish Riviera.

Pete is represented by Christine Witthohn of Book Cents Literary Agency.

Visit Pete at his website:

http://www.petemorin.com