Mission Flats

A Novel

By: William Landay

Narrated by: William Dufris

From the New York Times bestselling author of Defending Jacob

Former D.A. William Landay explodes onto the suspense scene with an electrifying novel about the true price of crime and the hidden corners of the criminal justice system. Only an insider could so vividly capture Boston’s gritty underworld of cops and criminals. And only a natural storyteller could weave this mesmerizing tale of murder and memory, a story about the hold of time past over time present–and the story of one unforgettable young policeman who ventures into the most dangerous place of all.

By a gleaming lake in the forests of western Maine, outside a sleepy town called Versailles, the body of a man lies sprawled in a deserted cabin. The dead man was an elite D.A. from Boston, and his beat was that city’s toughest neighborhood: Mission Flats.

Now, for small-town police chief Ben Truman, investigating the murder will mean leaving his quiet, haunted home and journeying to an alien world of hard streets and hard bargains, where the fierce struggle between police and criminals is fought for the ultimate stakes.

Ben joins a manhunt through Mission Flats, where cops are scrambling to find their number-one suspect: Harold Braxton, a ruthless predator targeted for prosecution by the murdered D.A. To the Boston police, Braxton is a marked man. But as Ben watches the shadow dance of cops and suspects, he begins to voice doubts about Braxton’s guilt…especially when he uncovers a secret history of murder and retribution stretching back twenty years…back to a brutal killing now nearly forgotten. As past and present collide and a bloody mystery unfolds, only one thing remains certain: the most powerful
revelations are yet to come.

Mission Flats is at once a relentless page-turning mystery and a vivid portrait of a cop’ s life. Here are the street corners, courtrooms, and stationhouses; the deal makers, thugs, and quiet heroes. An unforgettable world–and the luminous, boundary-breaking debut of a new voice in suspense fiction–Mission Flats will haunt you long after the final pages.©2003 William Landay; (P) 2003 Books on Tape, Inc.

Read "Defending Jacob" instead

I was anxious to try other books by Landay after really enjoying Defending Jacob, but it's obvious he got better as he went on because this, his first book, is really only just OK. It's pretty much what I would expect from a lawyer turned author, but without much polish or style. Nothing really surprising in story or quality......I'd recommend you read "Defending Jacob" instead and think about future books, not his past books.

Took a LONG time to get to the surprise ending.

The story was a good one but the author spent too much of the book telling stories that didn't matter to the plot.

Mission flats

A really well written story, and well narrated.
I would recommend it to those who enjoyed
Defending Jacob.

They're both right!

One reviewer on this site gives "Mission Flats" five stars, another gives it one. Who's right? Well, both are. This is a brilliantly written mystery -- right up there with Michael Connelly. (Hard to believe it's a first novel!!) Five stars for story and style. But the one-star reviewer has a point: the jinks in the plot are so abrupt and extreme that you feel as though you've been in a roll-over accident. Put on your seatbelt! If you look back over the story, though, you'll find plenty of clues and foreshadowing to warn you of what's ahead. A combination of Spencer and Bosch? Yes, it's that -- plus a generous dollop of Agatha Christie at her most devious.

Poorly narrated

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The story is interesting. The narration detracts from it to the point that I switched to print format.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The voice of the protagonist is rendered in what I assume is the narrator's own voice and is acceptable if somewhat flat. But the other characters' voices sound monotonous, just the narrator's voice pitched lower for older males and higher for females. The character of Kelly is especially difficult to listen to. The narrator is missing any unique tone or cadence.