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THE ALIBI MAN
by Tami Hoag
Bantam, March 2007
351 pages
$26.00
ISBN: 0553802011


Buy in the UK | Buy in Canada

So you think your life is crappy. Don’t volunteer to trade it for Elena Estes’ life. She used to be a cop. She used to belong to a very wealthy family. She used to be engaged to a drop-dead gorgeous guy. Not any more. The aforesaid DDGG asked her to alibi him for a brutal rape. When she wouldn’t, her father (adoptive) was the DDGG’s lawyer and dragged Elena through the mud as part of getting DDGG off.

Elena had spent much of her adolescence in public rebellion against her adoptive family, and she’s the first to admit to that. Her career as a cop went down the tubes after her partner was killed; her guilt and some major injuries put an end to that part of her life. And it only gets worse in THE ALIBI MAN.

Elena is now a rider on a horse farm in Palm Beach, where the polo season is in full force. One of the grooms is murdered, and guess who finds the body? You got it. Guess who is working the case? Landry, who was involved with Elena until just a day or two before she finds this body. The body is that of Irina, a Russian who is working as a groom while she pursues her dream of finding a wealthy American husband. Naturally, there is some connection to the all-pervasive Russian Mafia; Alexi Kulak. Kulak loved Irina (go figure) and is determined to kill her killer, slowly and painfully. Guess who wants Elena to help him find that killer?

It only gets better. The main suspect is Mr DDGG, Bennett Walker. He was drunk that night and doesn’t remember being one of the last people seen with Irina, but he has an alibi, a polo player named Juan Barbaro. They slept on adjoining pool tables or some such thing. Barbaro is attracted to Elena; he also has some history in London that may or may not have some bearing on Irina’s death. The icing on the cake is this: Walker’s lawyer is Elena’s father.

There is a group of wealthy men in Palm Beach; Walker and Barbaro are part of that group. They call themselves The Alibi Club because they provide alibis for each other as the need arises. Saves legal bills, for one thing. Will the club hold up under the scrutiny of Landry and Kulak?

Elena does her best to chip away at Walker’s alibi but she is honest enough to realize that her animosity may be coloring her judgment. She is very good about turning information over to Landry, usually. She is also pretty good at keeping Alexi from going off half-cocked, but not so good at keeping herself out of the line of fire.

Hoag has written a very readable thriller. I had a hard time putting it down, no trouble at all finding time to read more of it. She’s been around for a little while, this is not her first book, and I regret not reading her before. This is the second Elena Estes book, and it didn’t seem to be a problem that I hadn’t read DARK HORSE first. I should have, if it’s as good as THE ALIBI MAN.

Reviewed by P.J. Coldren, April 2007

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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)


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