Fresh Disasters

Fresh Disasters is the latest in the Stone Barrington series by Stuart Woods. This time Stone is filing a lawsuit against NYC mob leader Carmine Datilla on behalf of Herbie Fisher, a lovable ne'er do well. He also has to protect a woman from her crazed ex-boyfriend and gets the privilege of handling a divorce for the wife (soon to be ex) of the lawyer representing Carmine Datilla.

As usual, it's much more complicated than it sounds, involves huge amount of money changing hands and several sexual encounters a day. Once again, it's an exciting, fun book and an easy read.

I think this is the first of the series that I've read that didn't include an appearance by his ex-girlfriend Arrington Calder. I'm still wondering where she was. I finally realized that what I like about Stuart Woods' Stone Barrington series is it's predictability. Not in a boring "I don't need to read this because I know the ending" kind of way, but in a macaroni and cheese with chocolate milk kind of way.

First, you always know that Stone is going to survive. And that every evening in NYC, no matter how action-packed the day, will end with dinner at Elaine's with Dino. Every day that Stone is not in NYC he will call Dino once, if not twice about some police-related matter. Typically he will need Dino to take off work and come help him solve the case.

Stone always has romantic involvement with at least 2 women in the course of the book, usually 3 or more, but always at least 2. Usually at least one will be a client and one will have some sort of involvement with his opposition. One of them will be from Delano, Georgia and Stone will act as if he never heard from the town. How many beautiful, sex-starved women can there be in a town that doesn't even exist according to Google maps?

Stone will always need to make a trip to either his house in Maine or his house in Connecticut to stash someone who needs to be hidden away. And if he only needs to use one of those houses, he will at least casually mention the other.

Large amounts of cash will change hands multiple times. Stone will always start the novel in a financial hole, being chided by his dutiful secretary Joan. Then he will end it a wealthy man. I guess he just blows the cash and doesn't work between books.

But, you don't know how he's going to get the money and it sometimes comes from a surprising place. And you don't know which girl Stone will still be with at the end of the book. Or which one will die or turn out to be in cahoots with the enemy. You don't know how he'll foil the mob bosses, the evil ex-boyfriends and the hired guns. But, you know he will.