The Racketeer
“The Racketeer is guilty of only one thing: keeping us engaged until the very last page.”
—USA Today
About the Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “The Racketeer is guilty of only one thing: keeping us engaged until the very last page.”—USA Today
In the history of the United States, only four active federal judges have been murdered. Judge Raymond Fawcett has just become number five.
His body is found in his remote lakeside cabin. There is no sign of forced entry or struggle. Just two dead bodies: Judge Fawcett and his young secretary. And one large, state-of-the-art, extremely secure safe, opened and emptied.
One man, a former attorney, knows who killed Judge Fawcett, and why. But that man, Malcolm Bannister, is currently residing in the Federal Prison Camp near Frostburg, Maryland. Though serving time, Malcolm has an ace up his sleeve. He has information the FBI would love to know. Malcolm would love to tell them. But everything has a price—and the man known as the Racketeer wasn’t born yesterday.
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER 1
I am a lawyer, and I am in prison. It's a long story.
I'm forty-three years old and halfway through a ten-year sentence handed down by a weak and sanctimonious federal judge in Washington, D.C. All of my appeals have run their course, and there is no procedure, mechanism, obscure statute, technicality, loophole, or Hail Mary left in my thoroughly depleted arsenal. I have nothing. Because I know the law, I could do what some inmates do and clog up the courts with stacks of worthless motions and writs and other junk filings, but none of this would help my cause. Nothing will help my cause. The reality is that I have no hope of getting out for five more years, save for a few lousy weeks chopped off at the end for good behavior, and my behavior has been exemplary.
I shouldn't call myself a lawyer, because technically I am not. The Virginia State Bar swept in and yanked my license shortly after I was convicted. The language is right there in black and white--a felony conviction equals disbarment. I was stripped of my license, and my disciplinary troubles were duly reported in the Virginia Lawyer Register. Three of us...
Praise
“Exhilarating . . . surprising . . . ingenious.”
—Janet Maslin, The New York Times
“The Racketeer is guilty of only one thing: keeping us engaged until the very last page.”
—USA Today
“A satisfying, deeply engrossing thriller in which different forms of justice are ultimately served.”
—The Washington Post
“Fast-paced . . . with enough startling plot twists—and changes of scenery, from Miami to Montego Bay and beyond—to surprise even the most suspicious reader.”
—The Wall Street Journal
“Tautly plotted.”
—Entertainment Weekly
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