Collateral Damage Book Review

“Collateral Damage” by H. Terrell Griffin:

Griffin pens another great mystery as he floods our senses with terrifying situations in “Collateral Damage.”

Once again, retired attorney Matt Royal is knee deep in a quagmire. His old U.S. Army Special Forces comrade Charles Desmond—who Matt called Doc back in their service days—needs his help. Desmond’s son is gunned down on a beach and hopes that Matt can use his skill and contacts from when he practiced law to find the killer(s).

But it’s more than finding out who killed Desmond’s son. Drugs are involved as are other murders, all mixed with a few Asians who try to kill Matt. His friend, who has more power than anyone other than the President of the United States, Jock Algren, comes to Longboat Key, Florida to help Matt.

Matt is plagued with clues meant to misdirect him from figuring out what was really going on. He uncovers heart wrenching information when he finds out Doc has been funding an entity that is suspected of illegal crimes for the past five years. His friend and someone he hopes to be eventually intimate with, J.D. Duncan, disappears and is shown on a bank camera withdrawing a large sum of money from an account also associated with those who are trying to kill Matt. Is Doc part of the drug running? Is J.D. really on the wrong side of the law?

Griffin takes us on one hell of a ride through some rocky waters to reach the conclusion. Just when you think you’ve reached a calm stream, you’re thrown back into calamitous seas, much like a river boat rafting.

As I have come to expect from Griffin, this novel is well done and keeps you on the edge the entire time.

Reviewed by Starr Gardinier Reina, author of “Deadly Decisions”