Spider Season

Spider Season will not disappoint fans of the Benjamin Justice series. This book, like all by this author, offers the reader suspense, humor, and great character development. I look forward to the next in this series.

It's great to have another Benjamin Justice book on our shelves. This much anticipated eighth outing of disgraced reporter, Benjamin Justice, does not fail to satisfy those of us who are fans. This has been a strong story from the first book and I'm sure we all hope the somewhat ambiguous ending will lead to another Justice story. Some have criticised this latest book for being slow or predictable but come on, what do you want? There's nothing I enjoy more than reading a story that takes its time to develop. Spider Season is a very exciting book at times and I, for one, appreciated the occassional slowing down to get my pulse rate down! And reminding us of what went before is always welcome. John Morgan Wilson has, over eight books, developed an engaging and real character who's a bit sexy too. I thank him for many hours of enjoyable reading and can't wait for the next one.

If you love the Benjamin Justice series, you'll love this book. I've been a fan for years and dread finishing the new novel as I have to wait for the next one to be published. Mystery, intrigue and returning characters make this latest addition to the repertoire a must read.

Wilson, John Morgan. "Spider Season", St. Martin's, 2008. Benjamin Justice Returns Amos Lassen It is not easy to escape the past--this is what we learn in John Wilson's "Spider Season", the latest addition to the Benjamin Justice series. Justice was once of the most respected and prominent journalists in Los Angeles if not the entire United States. It was discovered that he invented the sources he used for his Pulitzer Prize winning articles. Because of this, he lost his job, his friends and his reputation. Now after many years have passed, Justice publishes a memoir in which he reveals the truth behind the events that caused him to lose so much as well as making him radioactive in the community of journalists. This book is his last chance to turn things around and to make a living from writing. The memoir is honest and it brings out a lot--not just the affair with the Pulitzer Prize. Long gone and hidden ghosts reappear and Justin finds himself and everything and everybody that he holds dear to be under attack. The novel engages the reader from the first page. As Justice's past returns, it is as if delicate and dangerously poisonous spiders weave their webs of evil around his life and Justice, for the first time, attacks the voices that he hears. Now he has reached a stage in his life where he can publicly atone for what he did and make some money and return to his writing career. He is also able to lay to rest some of the issues he has had about his dead lover, Jacques, who succumbed to AIDS some eighteen years before. However not all went well for Justice. With the publication of his memoirs, hate mail and a strange man suddenly appear and Benjamin Justice realizes that his past is full of bad choices and that he had escaped from challenges and had caused trouble with people. Jason Holt enters the picture and begins to show attention to Justice and his evil seems to capture him. Jason is also a spider lover and like his spiders, Jason is also capable of spinning webs. But there is also a couple of other problems--one is Cathryn Conroy, a tough female journalist who is conducting her own investigation; the other is a well known artist, Charles Wu who has his own issues. Justice's private life is also taken to task and his new partner, Ismael, a Catholic priest, cannot help him feel better. There is a lot going on here and I am not going to say another word about the plot because to do so would spoil it for you. This is an amazing book that will keep you up late and one that is not to be missed.

Benjamin Justice is back, looking toward his 50th birthday with a mixture of regret - for actions taken in his life, including loss of a Pulitzer Prize for writing (and along with it his credibility and reputation) when it was discovered he made up sources for his work - and a renewed vigor from his HIV meds, exercise and regular testosterone shots, which have helped his health and energy. With the recent release of his memoirs, Justice hopes to finally give closure to the demons of his past, and perhaps become regarded as a serious writer again. But a reviewer with a reputation for "hatchet jobs" threatens him with new revelations, at a time when he is already being distracted by a seemingly deranged individual who claims to have known him from school, and is setting a web of intimidation and danger to make up for Benjamin's alleged slighting of his crush on him back then. Last but far from least, Benjamin scuffles with a mysterious younger man whom he catches sitting in his car, making him realize he may have overreacted with his reaction, but later finding a connection with the former Iraq vet that he never imagined possible. There is the discovery of a longtime cover-up of a murder, concern for the elderly gay couple who have been Benjamin's best friends and landlords, the return of an interesting man from his past and the strongest temptations yet to a reformed alcoholic. This is the eighth in Wilson's "Benjamin Justice" series, and I have been a diehard fan from the first book thirteen years ago (which, along with the three books after it - long out of print - have been rereleased this year, and are much recommended to mystery fans.) I have been unable to get any feedback on my feelings that this "memoir" device is meant to be a means to tie up loose ends and conclude the series. But I've had that feeling after reading seemingly insurmountable changes in Benjamin's life in two previous installments in the series, only to see him come back just as strong the next time. Hopefully, that is the case here, as I would hate to say goodbye to this great series. A chorus of "itzy bitzy spider," and five bold stars out of five!