The Left Hand of God (A Larry Cole Mystery) [Hardcover]

Hugh Holton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1999

Hugh Holton is the highest-ranking police officer writing novels today. His acclaimed Windy City spent twelve and a half weeks on the Chicago Tribune bestseller list. Now, in The Left Hand of God, he delivers the most powerful read of his career. It will take you from the upper echelons of high society to the twisted world of the psychopath, from the glamorous penthouses on Chicago's north side to the subterranean tunnels and storm sewers underneath the streets of the city, as Chicago police Chief of Detectives Larry Cole faces his biggest challenge yet.

Joining Larry Cole is Lieutenant Blackie Silvestri, the beautiful and smart investigative journalist Kate Ford, and Cole's seventeen-year-old son, Butch, who is visiting his father for the summer. When Butch visits a nightclub on the north side, he stumbles across a plot to fix an Olympic basketball game between the U.S. and the Italian national team. Meanwhile, Cole has uncovered a plot to assassinate the sultry newscaster Orga Syriac when he escorts her to a political ball. The would-be assassin, a demented Catholic priest, is intent on stopping her from exposing a secret right-wing organization.

With Kate Ford's help, Cole must foil the would-be homicidal maniac, keep an eye on his teenage son, and prevent an international game-fixing scheme that could tarnish the Olympic sports world forever.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The new outing for high-ranking African-American Chicago cop Larry Cole is an ambitious but cluttered mix of clandestine politicking, crooked gambling and black magic. In rural Mississippi in 1956, a secret organization, the Human Development Institute, attempted to murder a benevolent "she-devil." Nearly half a century later, the institute is still around?and so is the shape-shifter, or Abo-Yorba. Now calling herself Orga Syriac, she is newly employed as a TV journalist in Chicago, and at the moment is acting as the glamorous companion to none other than Cole at a PAC dinner. An HDI agent, posing as a priest, has gone inexplicably rogue and has decided to kill all those at the dinner with well-placed explosives. Cole's son, Butch, meanwhile, is club-hopping at a trendy spot owned by Jack Carlisle, a criminal intent on blackmailing Chicago Bulls star Pete Dubcek into throwing a game. Holton, himself brass in the Chicago PD, demonstrates that a plethora of plotting?some of it quite exciting?can come very close to papering over a bland prose style. Cole, too, is dull, a wooden soul adrift in a caper where things happen for hazy reasons.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

When Chief of Detectives Larry Cole attends a dinner party for the Human Development Institute, he does not know that he and everyone he is with will be marked for death. Chicago in the year 2004 is pretty much business as usual. The Cook County Political Action Committee, a right-wing group, is attempting a political takeover of the area. The Human Development Institute, a covert, cultlike organization, is trying to direct the course of humanity. Orga Syriac, a reporter for WGN-TV and Cole's date for the dinner party, is supposed to be the new Oprah but in reality is something quite different. And the Abo-Yorba, an African shape-shifter, is in town for revenge. The various plot lines are woven into a cohesive tale that rockets to a spectacular ending. As usual, Holton (Chicago Blues, LJ 4/1/96), a longtime member of the Chicago Police Department, has written a complex story, combining police procedure and the supernatural. For thriller fans.AJo Ann Vicarel, Cleveland Hts.
University Hts. P.L., OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Forge; 1st edition (February 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312867638
• ISBN-13: 978-0312867638
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,418,204 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thundering adventure throughout Chicago!, May 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Left Hand of God (A Larry Cole Mystery) (Hardcover)

Hugh Holton catapults the reader into a swift moving river of crime, deception, payoffs, mob hits and a touch of the X-Files! Chief of Detectives Larry Cole, along with his crime fighting crew of Blackie, Manny and Judy once again thrill the reader with back alley cop tactics that walks the razor thin edge between justice and injustice. Many of Chief Cole's previous contacts are exposed to danger or consulted for advise in this complex saga of future crime.

Chief Cole uses his brilliant mind and physical prowess to undo the evil deeds of the diabolical head of the Human Development Institute. However, a softer side of Cole is uncovered as he shares the summer with his son Butch, who is destined to follow in his father's footsteps. Coles seems to be slightly more interested in having fun this novel and seems to be quite attracted to writer Kate Ford.

The pages burn up in your fingers as you are blasted about Chicagoland by the diabolical Human Development Institute hitman, portraying himself as a visiting Irish priest from Detroit. Always one step away from handcuffs, he is a master of disguise. His ability to slip away from Chicago's finest leaves you leaping for the telephone to call 9-1-1.

Hugh Holton delivers a great balance of characters in this novel. He continues to expand on headline grabbing stories that quenches the thirst of the hard back reader. Every book from Hugh Holton brings an action packed adventure in reading!

Jim Gannon

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A good plot, but it could have been told better., February 12, 2001

By 

"andre98" (Bergen County, Northern New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Left Hand of God (Larry Cole Mystery) (Paperback)

I read the reviews of others, and it seems the most enthusiastic are familiar with other works by this author on this character Cole. This is my first encounter with the series. The start is fantastic, and due to the style of writing, absorbing the cast of characters was easy. Yet, I don't feel particularly thrilled enough to recommend this book, nor do I feel inspired to check any other installments of "Cole & the Gang" <---(I thought I'd be clever...) All in all, it was an average book of it's genre. I was more excited reading the Harry Potter books.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars a big disappointment, August 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Left Hand of God (Larry Cole Mystery) (Paperback)

This book started out with such a bang that I was sorely disappointed when it degenerated into such a clunky writing style shortly thereafter. Mr. Holton is in bad need of an editor; there's a good story here, but its clumsy execution keeps getting in the way. Not only that, but the title is a ripoff of a sci-fi classic, The Left Hand of God.