Follow the Sharks: A Brady Coyne Mystery

"Follow The Sharks" is the 3rd installment of William G. Tapply's Brady Coyne series. In this novel we catch up with Brady as he works to solve the mystery of the kidnapping of EJ Donagan, son of Eddie Donagan, former Red Sox ace. Brady first met Eddie when he was a college baseball pitcher. He represents him when he gets drafted by Boston and watches as the pitching sensation falls apart within a few seasons. Eddie goes from unhittable to unable to throw a pitch over the plate. He unexpectedly retires from baseball, divorces his wife Jan and disappears for months at a time. He occasionally comes around to see his son EJ, but not often and not always when he says he will. From time to time he just falls off the face of the earth and then reappears with no explanation for where he has been. When his son doesn't come home one Saturday after doing his paper route, Brady gets a call to help the family try to find out what happened to EJ. As always, Brady seems to do more detecting than lawyering, steps on the local police-men's toes and irritates his secretary Julie to no end. When Eddie vanishes yet again, everyone assumes he is just up to his old tricks, except for Brady, who thinks something might have happened to him just like EJ. With the weeks flying by and the police seeming to have no interest in finding Eddie or EJ, Brady works on his own to try and find both of them before it it too late. This is another fast-paced, well-written novel. Tapply is great at making Coyne a likable character and I always find myself rooting for him to catch his man and solve the case without causing himself to much physical or emotional harm in the process. I recommend reading this series if you haven't done so already and enjoy the legal/detective thriller genre.