Stalking Justice

Larry Klinger is a retired detective who lost his six-year-old son forty-seven years ago. It is not until Larry is retired that he finally has time to think about how Mattie’s death has deeply affected him, and the pain simmers in his heart. He joins a support group of other men who have lost children, and the bond between the men grows closer with each meeting. Then, one day, one of the men in the group mentions that his daughter, Andrea, is being stalked by a violent ex-boyfriend named Marco. Larry finds himself very interested in trying to help with the situation and, just like he did with his job, dives straight in, contacting people from his past who he thinks may be able to help.

Stalking Justice is a book filled with deep emotions and purpose. I found the support group conversations to be heartwrenching and admirable. Any therapist’s dream is for a group of men who have lost children to be able to open up and speak about their feelings and express them in a safe place. Written with sensitivity yet still an air of manly machoness, author John K. Manos does an excellent job of creating realistic characters.

Any parent who has found their child in a dangerous relationship will be empathetic to this part of the story. It is infuriating when Marco grabs Andrea and even more disturbing when he starts fights in public, leaving his opponents in the hospital or missing body parts, and gets away with it. Being an ex-Chicago police officer, Klinger feels he has a duty to help McVie, Andrea’s father, keep Marco away from Andrea. As things get tense in the book, Andrea ends up moving in with her family after another manipulative run-in with Marco.

Throughout the book, I noticed that the author did an amazing job expressing each of the characters’ current emotions. In several chapters, Andrea’s story is told in the third person, and the details are precise, from the neighborhood she lived in to where her dog’s biscuit jar sat next to the kitchen sink. The reader can visualize the setting as it pertains to each character in the book.

When Marco is found dead, things get messy, and the Chicago police get involved. One can only hope the detectives on the case get the job done without prosecution of the wrong person. After all, Larry is their main suspect since the job looks professional. The main detective on the case, Sarah Dunn, is smart but also has a smart mouth that is a bit annoying at times.

Stalking Justice is the perfect book for anyone who loves novels with very emotional adult themes. It is gripping and suspenseful from start to finish.