Favors and Lies Blog Tour and Review

Favors and Lies by Mark Gilleo
Publication date: July 1, 2014 by The Story Plant
Source: Publisher for an honest review
Description: 
Dan Lord is a forty-year-old private detective with a law degree working the blurred line between right and wrong in the Nation’s Capital. As a self-employed solutions broker and legal consultant, he works for a very select clientele. He doesn’t advertise and only takes cases on referral. But when two people close to him are murdered, Dan's work becomes very personal.
With the assistance of a newly hired female intern, extracting clues from a ladder of acquaintances, Dan bounds through both the underbelly and elite of society, each step bringing more questions and yet ultimately taking him closer to the answer he seeks. A bail bondsman, a recluse hacker, a court clerk, a university student, an old-school barber, a high-class madam, an intelligence officer, a medical doctor, and a police detective are among the list of people Dan must cajole for help. His quest will lead him to discover things he never wanted to know, and put him in the position to reveal things that important people would prefer remain unrevealed.

Tense, ingenious, and filled with the unforgettable characters that have become a Mark Gilleo trademark, Favors and Lies is the most thrilling novel yet from one of the great new voices in suspense fiction.


My Take:
Favors and Lies sounded like it might be an interesting read, so I agreed to review it. I had no idea that it would be so much fun and such an intense page turner. I was hooked from the first few pages. I was intrigued by this guy and had to find out what was going on. I loved the way the first couple of chapters of the book don't really explain things - the reader is just along for the ride while Dan goes about his business. At first it isn't really clear what that business is - he meets with a guy in a bar after a bunch of elusive moves to make sure he isn't followed or recognized. Intriguing. It seems that Dan is the good guy in the situation, but it is all very mysterious. The second chapter, however, is where I was truly hooked. This is where the head-long rush to find out what is going on hit me.

Dan Lord is a great protagonist - smart, tough, wily, stubborn and loyal. When two members of his family are found dead on the same night, he is determined to find answers. When he becomes a suspect in their murders, he is even more determined. And he is pretty angry at the way things are going. Obviously, there is something big going on and Dan is going to find out what it is.

I don't want to discuss particulars because I don't want to give away the good stuff. Suffice to say, I was impressed with the story and was completely entertained. Things are seldom what they seem and Dan has managed to get on a lot of people's wrong sides - which makes for some fun reading. Impressively, I was actually surprised at the big reveal. I really did not see it coming. 

Favors and Lies was such a blast from start to finish. I didn't know what to expect from Mark Gilleo's writing, but I was happily surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. If you like action-packed thriller/mysteries with a super cool protagonist, then you will probably enjoy Favors and Lies. 



About the Author:

Mark Gilleo holds a graduate degree in international business from the University of South Carolina and an undergraduate degree in business from George Mason University. He enjoys traveling, hiking and biking. A fourth-generation Washingtonian, he currently resides in the D.C. area. His two most recent novels were recognized as finalist and semifinalist, respectively, in the William Faulkner-Wisdom creative writing competition.
http://markgilleo.com

Follow the tour here:

July 01, 2014 - Dive Under the Cover

July 01, 2014 - Teena in Toronto

July 15, 2014 - The Bunny`s Review

July 31, 2014 - A Blue Million Books

August 05, 2014 - A Book Geek