Fatal Decree

As I read it somewhat reminded me of Travis McGee, also of Florida fame. Of course the story is different but I enjoyed the story, its characters, the story and especially how it ended. I love love and am always glad when love wins.

Somewhat typical crime murder mystery featuring drug king pins, local law enforcement, money laundering and secret government involvement. Characters with high moral standards are faced with accepting unlawful acts supposedly perpetrated for the general public benefit. Rises above on strength of strong characters, quality writing and first rate story telling. As a bonus, I think I now know every eatery on Longboat Key. Slow growing love story between tough minded Longboat detective JD and our protagonist Matt Royal is woven though out and brings the story home. An engaging read.

Not sure how Mr. Griffin continues to write better Matt Royal adventures with each new book, but he does!! I know that you will love this book more than any of his previous great books! So just sit back and enjoy reading this incredible story!!

The body was just floating slowly down the channel. It was that of a female, middle-aged, blond, naked, shot in the head. The 22-caliber round was still in the brain, a whale-tail earring had been put in the left earlobe, and the initials “KKK” had been cut into the skin just above the nape of the neck. For Longboat Key’s only police detective, Jennifer “J.D.” Duncan, this scenario was identical to three she had investigated peripherally twelve years ago when she was a new detective with the Miami-Dade force. The ritualistic deaths had stopped as quickly as they had started and were, to this point, unsolved. With the appearance of the body, J.D. finds she has far more problems than the resurgence of a serial killer or his copycat. To begin with, the dead woman is the wife of a newly re-activated agent from the same national security agency that Jock Algren works for. Then, in less than a day, someone tries to murder her. A day later, someone tries to kill Matt Royal, our main protagonist and the man J.D. cares for above anyone else. Then, in short order, there are several more attempts on J.D.’s life and another on Matt’s. Now, as nasty as all this is, for J.D., it just goes from bad to worse. The body of a second woman, murdered in the same ritualistic manner as the first, is found. And, within hours, the re-activated agent is murdered. But all these murders and attempted murders are not the “worse.” The overriding problem for J.D. is that the murder of the agent – and the nature of the project on which he had been working – precipitates a direct response from the President. J.D.’s boss is ordered, in the interests of national security, to hand over the investigation to Jock. And this means handing over all the cases - the three murders, the four attempts on J.D.’s life and the three attempts on Matt’s life. J.D. knows exactly what this means. It means that warrants and normal procedures will not apply. It means that all evidence gathered will most likely be inadmissible at trial. And she knows that she won’t need the evidence anyway since the perpetrators and the masterminds of these crimes will never appear in court. She has seen Jock in action before and she knows. Thus, when she is put in protective custody against her will and when the law she is sworn to uphold is usurped in favor of black ops, the secondary plot of this novel kicks in. J.D. is already frustrated with island life after years in the lights of Miami. She is also aggravated with the island’s grapevine after years of anonymity in the big city. And she and Matt have been dancing around each other personally for months, both scared to take the next step in their relationship. At this point, her core belief in the law is in tatters, her cases are in jeopardy and she feels that she is being treated more like a “woman” than a well-armed and well-trained cop. So, reluctantly, she sets the stage with Matt to leave the island – and him – to go back to Miami after Jock is finished killing everybody. H. Terrell Griffin has written a convoluted tale of double agents, drug cartels, murder for hire and revenge. There are a plethora of secondary characters and it is vitally important to understanding the denouement that the reader keep them straight – the order in which they appear, the order in which they die, who is hired by whom, and who is related to whom and how. And Griffin has penned a female protagonist that can be respected, even as she wrestles with decisions that may break the heart of the male protagonist we have followed for six books previously. She is not perfect but she does not whine or devolve into irritating self-pity. She argues logically and she plays fair. And she does not try to emotionally manipulate others – particularly Matt. As female leads go these days, she is a breath of fresh air. Griffin uses three literary tactics that make this novel flow and build seemingly effortlessly and naturally. First is the way he writes his action scenes – and there are a great many of these. He chooses his words carefully and in such a way that their graphic and precise meanings translate into your mind’s eye as if you were viewing the scenes on a screen. Secondly, while the book is primarily in Matt Royal’s first person POV, the author shifts into third person occasionally to let the reader into the minds of the villains. Griffin also uses this technique to give us, for the first time, a glimpse into Jock’s psyche, while in action and away from Matt. And the author makes these first- to third-person transitions cleanly and clearly so that there is no confusion for the reader as to whose thoughts and actions are in the spotlight. And thirdly, Griffin uses short chapters so that the reader can conveniently stop and start as chores and sleep intrude on the world that the author has built. Then, Griffin sneaks up on you and, every few chapters, he ends with a paragraph basically saying, “If I had only known then…” So much for doing those chores and grabbing some sleep!

I am a fan of mystery / thriller novels and have been following the work of H. Terrell Griffin. He has developed a unique style that is both compelling and fun to read. He has created an admirable cast of recurring characters, each of who possess skills that help move the story along. After reading all of the books in the Matt Royal series I have come to view the character as my own friends, perhaps because they seem to be so real in their abilities, emotions and motivations. When they get hit they hurt, they make mistakes and worry about their decisions. The characters are real, not some overblown double oh seven able to be stabbed, shot poisoned and dropped from a plane without wrinkling his tuxedo. Each book in the series is a great read, and with each book Griffin seems to get a little stronger and more confident as a storyteller. I recommended the series without reservation and eagerly await the next installment!

I really have enjoyed all the previous H. Terrell Griffin books on the Longboat Key area of Florida. I have traveled there many times myself so it makes his stories particularly enjoyable to read about places I have been. Fatal Decree is ok but not as good as his others. It still has a lot of information and descriptions of the Sarasota-Longboat Key area but the book spends too much time on his lovelife and creates some very improbable characters. It is still worth the read. I will look forward to his next novel.

Fatal Decree was another action packed, page turner, I loved the ending. The Matt Royal Mystery series are not to be missed if you want a good read. Terry Griffin is hands down one of my favorite authors. He has the innate ability to set a scene and build a character so much so that when reading the book you feel like you are sitting right next to Matt & Jock at Mar Vista. I'm anxious for the next Matt Royal book - write faster Terry!

Reading H. Terrell Griffin's "Matt Royal" series is like reading Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" series: you immediately know all the main characters, their traits, proclivities, and capabilities. Matt, the retired lawyer living on Longboat Key, is back, and so is the beautiful J.D. (the former Miami detective now on the Key), Jock (the agent with the shall-remain-nameless agency), Logan (drinking buddy extraordinaire), Bill Lester (Longboat Chief of Police), along with the normal supporting cast. I like that in Griffin's novels, just like I liked it in Parker's novels. These are people you can trust to be who they've always been. The plot of "Fatal Decree" is fairly convoluted; it even seems for a while that there might be two plots running concurrantly. But, with Griffin's novels, as with many other novels of this genre, it's not the plot that keeps you turning pages, it's the action, the interaction of the characters, and the aura of the capabilities, both physical and mental, of the characters. It's almost heart-warming to see the heroes beat up, maim, and even kill the bad guys -- they certainly had it coming! Sometimes the good guys get hurt -- a knife wound, a bullet grazing a shoulder, a concussion; that just makes them seem more real to us. This is definitely one of the best of the Matt Royal series. The non-stop action is well-balanced with the personal sides of Matt's relationship with J.D., and with all the members of Matt's "family". And, BTW, on the personal side, it's got a great ending! So get it while it's hot! Only one very minor disclaimer. Griffin has a slightly annoying habit, overdone in this novel, of ending chapters with harbingers of doom ("If I could have foreseen the events of the next day, I would have stayed in bed, hunkered under the sheets, seeking safe harbor.") It's like he wants to make sure we'll tune in next week to see the next episode; we're just going to turn the page! Given my overall satisfaction with and enjoyment of "Fatal Decree", and the aforementioned "great ending", I eagerly await the next Matt Royal Mystery!!!! (Note: This is a Kindle book, not a hardcover.)