HE DID ALL THE RIGHT THINGS–AND THEN THE BODIES STARTED PILING UP… The Dirty Lowdown wrote: “Mick James has nailed it. The all too dark side of our legal industry, and the type of character we’re all too afraid to admit exists!” It looks like disbarred attorney Bobby Custer has won the lottery. After serving four years of a seven-year sentence, he gets an offer he can’t refuse – from the … refuse – from the feds. They just want him to keep an eye out for shady goings-on at one of the most prestigious law firms in the city. And suddenly he’s out – out of jail, but also totally cast out of his old life: shunned by family and friends, living in a bare studio apartment, working the hallways and back alleys of the legal game and finding plenty of shady goings-on to keep an eye on.
He did all the right things — went to law school, got a job in a good law firm — right up until the conviction for “a minor dalliance with a trust fund”. You could almost feel for the guy – a young man tempted by the high life could make a mistake he regrets and end up losing everything. And a guy who’ll help you hide a body could just be a good friend. But as the bodies start piling up, you have to wonder if there’s something about Bobby that’s just not … right.
Chilling and action-packed, Corridor Man exposes a dark, violent undercurrent just beneath the surface of “perfectly legal and above-board”.
A combination of Breaking Bad and House of Cards, Corridor Man is a sinister, disturbing thriller that’s bound to keep you awake at night.
The FIRST book in the Corridor Man series.
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We meet defrocked lawyer Bobby Custer in a prison interrogation room, getting squeezed hard by two federal agents making him an offer he really can’t refuse — snitch for them and leave the graybar hotel after serving four of seven years on a fraud bounce or stay for the full ride.
Bobby takes the deal, which comes with vague instructions about keeping his eyes and ears open in an entry-level job with a downtown St. Paul, Minnesota law firm, and gets dropped off at a halfway house. Which leads to a ratty efficiency on the bad side of town and a wheezing Geo he needs for his new job as an errand boy, driving witnesses to and from the firm for depositions.
At this point, Bobby’s a bit of a sad sack who seems destined for either a quick return to prison or a marginal life dining on frozen TV dinners and stealing a neighbor’s laundry to get bed linen. But author Nick James, nom de plume for prolific crime author Mike Faricy, also shows the reader another side of Bobby, a guy who has plucky survival skills, street smarts sharpened by prison and a larcenous eye for opportunity.
In this taut, fast-paced and well-told tale, the first of a series, James presents us with a tasty slice of classic urban noir — a down-on-his-luck guy, buffeted by circumstances beyond his control, forced to rely on his wits to deal with the sudden and sometimes violent twists and turns that come his way. Rich with detailed descriptions, snappy dialogue and fully-developed characters, this is noir in the tradition of James M. Cain’s “Double Indemnity” or “The Postman Always Rings Twice.”
We see the story through Bobby’s eyes and are just as surprised as he is by the turn of events. First, he’s hauling a soused barfly named Kate Clarken to the firm only to be shot at by two hitters named Dubuque and Mobile. He meets her muscle-bound and thuggish son, Precious, known as Prez, after the mother winds up murdered outside of one of the few dives that would let her drink on the cuff and Bobby goes to the funeral. Prez leaves the urn with his mother’s ashes at Bobby’s apartment, then stakes Bobby out as bait to lure Dubuque and Mobile out of hiding for a bit of payback. That doesn’t turn out quite the way Prez planned.
At each turn, Bobby’s eye for the lucrative angle and smarter but illegal move come into play. He’s a likable, but bent ex-lawyer on the ropes and he’s doing what he has to do to survive. Each move takes him deeper toward the center of a big-league criminal conspiracy and ever closer to the kingpin who controls it all, Morris Montcreff. When asked to drop off papers on a real estate deal involving Montcreff, one of the firm’s biggest clients, Bobby can’t help himself. He takes a peek and sees a passage that sticks Montcreff with the lion’s share of financial liability.
That catches Montcreff’s murderous eye. His thugs drag Bobby to a meeting in a dank wine cellar and appear bent on torturing and killing him until he turns a wine bottle into a lethal weapon and kills one of the thugs who is starting to bore into Bobby’s arm with a power drill. This impresses Montcreff. Suddenly, Bobby appears to be on easy street. He’s ushered into a corner office of the firm whose managing partner loathes him and assigned to review every Montcreff deal the firm has ever handled. He’s promised moves would be made to restore his law license and whisked into spacious digs in a restored apartment building with his rent paid by the firm.
Bobby plays the new hand he’s dealt with vigor and obvious but understated relish. He uses his newfound leverage to carve out a comfortable life and powerful role at the firm, politely rubbing the nose of managing partner Noah Denton in it. And you find yourself rooting for Bobby even though he’s a crook, a killer and a bit of a weasel. But there’s a price to pay and it’s waiting around the next corner — which happens to be a cliffhanger ending that sets up the sequel to this edition of Corridor Man.
Corridor Man is available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/Corridor-Man-Nick-James-ebook/dp/B013W005W2/
Jim Nesbitt is the author of three hard-boiled Texas crime thrillers, The Right Wrong Number, The Last Second Chance and The Best Lousy Choice. All three are available in paperback or Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/author/jimnesbitt
First book in a series of 5 plus 2 novellas. I’ve read all 5 but haven’t read the 2 novellas yet. The books are better read in order. Bobby Custer is a former attorney who went to prison and lost his license to practice. Gets out but goes to work for a law firm to do grunt work. He manages to get into major trouble all the time and things go from bad to worse as the books progress. This is an addictive read and I couldn’t wait to find out what he could possibly do next. I hope there will be more in the series.
This is a thriller you definitely do not want to miss!! I loved it so much I immediately went in and purchased the second in the series. Of course the ending had me wanting to know what happens next–cliff hanger alert!!
Bobby Custer just got out of jail early for good behavior. He was in for a white collar crime–he lost his legal licence–his wife and had virtually nothing left to his name! After spending a month or two in a half way house he managed to get a run down apartment. One thing–he was to be given a job at the law firm he used to work at–but not doing law–he accepted which is why he got out early!
He was essentially a delivery boy–shuffling people back and forth for depositions. One woman wasn’t where she was supposed to be and he had to find her. He found her in a bar totally drunk out of her mind. Then someone tried to kill her–then her son came to thank Bobby–and that is when all the trouble really starts!!
Talk about twists and turns–they will make your head spin! I really can not say much more without giving up the story and I want you to read this book!!
There are 8 books in this series, each one becoming more bizarre than the last. Bobby Custer is the main character, starting out as a lawyer who just got out of prison for some illegal lawyering and having lost his law license. He gets a low level job for a prestigious law firm, being a gopher basically. Bobby has a very twisted mind and tends to get what he wants no matter how he gets there. He has no values or scruples, but yet you can’t put the book down. I think I have some weird quirk in my brain to have liked these books because they are quite disgusting. But make you laugh anyway.
disappointed that there was no conclusion to it, like reading through a book only to find that the last third has been torn off. usually books in a series have some sort of conclusion before they end, not just telling you to buy the next book