King Arthur Movie Tristan

title: When No One is Watching

author: Joseph Hayes

genre: political thriller

source: sent by publisher for review

pages: 317

published: 2010

first line: "I love this ride, Dano!"

rated: 5 out of 5 stars

I think that, in the end, we mostly live the kind of life we deserve.

About:

When No One is Watching is a story about family, friendship, betrayal and redemption that had me hooked from the start.




Lawyer Danny Moran is a recovering alcoholic. His supposed best friend and colleague Blair Van Howe, is driving Danny home one night after a work related dinner. Despite being sober for a few months, Danny decided to have a few drinks and is in an alcohol induced stupor completely passed out in the passengers seat of his sports car. Blair is driving Danny's Porsche at full speed when he causes a horrible accident involving a father of two.

Instead of taking the blame himself, Blair gets out of the car, drags a passed out Danny over to the driver's seat and leaves the accident scene. Blair is running for Congress and cannot afford a scandal that will ruin his political career.
At this point, he doesn't know whether the innocent victim survived the crash or not, but Blair frames Danny for the accident.





When Danny awakens he finds himself in the midst of a horrible car crash and is being arrested for drunk driving and possible manslaughter. Danny cannot remember how he got into the drivers seat, since he never drove drunk before. Meanwhile Blair is home trying to cover up his tracks. He involves his wife and his father in law, who is a well known and politician, as dirty as he is.


Detective Vic Slazak arrives at the gruesome scene. He is assigned to the case, that seems like a regular DWI, yet he can't shake the nagging feeling that something is not right. He begins to investigate even further in search of the truth. Plenty of obstacles are curiously put in the way of his investigation, and Slazak realizes there are some powerful people who do not want him to uncover what really happened.




Riddled with guilt and humiliation, Danny spirals downward and continues to drink heavily, losing his wife and breaking his own family apart in the process. Never giving up hope, Danny tries to beat his alcoholism and redeem himself. He doesn't even blame Blair or hold grudges, although Blair dissappeared from Danny's life shortly after the crash.



A decade passes and Blair is now running for President of the United States, but there is always that small chance that his past lies will be uncovered.










My thoughts:

While reading When No One is Watching I really got swept into the story as author Joseph Hayes took me for a emotional and thrilling ride.



Blair Van Howe frames his best friend for a crime he committed himself then tries to console Danny after the fact. He seems like your everyday average Joe, yet he has it in him to do this horrible thing. After everything is said and done, Blair feels remorse for his actions, yet he lets Danny take the rap, almost ruining his life.



I rooted for Danny Moran from page one. His addiction makes him vulnerable and he is really a good guy battling his personal demons, even visiting the victims family to apologize for his supposed drunk driving. The supporting characters in this book were well written and the relationship between Danny and his 17 year old daughter seemed real to me, tugging at my heartstrings. I chocked up during one scene where Danny was home alone and drunk watching Blair on the television. He was cheering Blair on loudly.



Detective Slazak was a great character as well. I was sure that he would uncover the truth and set Danny free from his guilt and shame. He was on a mission to set things right, even a decade later.



If you're in the mood for a political thriller dealing with issues of morality, betrayal and family, I recommend When No One is Watching. The author creates multi-faceted characters with an interesting storyline, which in turn make for a thought provoking and emotional read.


You often hear the advice that writers should 'write what they know'. Which is what author and lawyer Joseph Hayes does here. And it really works well. This will be on my top reads for 2011.

















about the author:

Since obtaining his law degree from Berkeley, Joseph Hayes has practiced law in Chicago, San Diego and Houston. He currently serves the chief ethics officer for a Fortune 1000 company. Hayes resides in The Woodlands, Texas, with his wife, Susan, and their three children.