Fools on the Hill: Fools on the Hill

That elusive "X-factor" known as "entertainment value" goes completely off the charts, into the stratosphere, and out to the heavens beyond in this stupendously well-crafted mystery-thriller that fans of the late Ross Thomas, the still-alive Michael Connelly, and (for that matter) Woodward & Bernstein will truly dig.Reporter Jeff Carmichael is really good at what he does ... but he's a bit headstrong, somewhat self-centered, and doesn't suffer fools gladly. The problem is (as the droll title of Lerner's novel suggests), Jeff has situated himself within the environs of Washington D.C. -- a place that's nothing if not a hotbed of fools and their (occasionally-fatal) foolishness. The challenges that the city (in general) and its ruthlessly-ambitious peoples (in particular) present our hero -- and their distinction from those events and peoples operating outside the Beltway -- serve to catapult Jeff on a whirlwind, labyrinthine path that he desperately, continually attempts to guide toward the truth ... despite a kaleidoscope of forces urging him to conclude otherwise.Lerner writes with a sly economy and "been there" vermisilitude (sic?) that bespeaks a background in both journalistic skill and D.C. folklore, and his novel should -- if there's any justice at all in this world -- prompt a Supreme Court declaration that it become required reading for all Mafia malefactors, Senatorial sycophants, Presidential peccadillo-ers, and everybody else forevermore.