The Codicil

by Tom Topor

When a late businessman's will reveals the existence of a war child to whom he has bequeathed fifty million dollars, renegade private detective Adam Bruno is hired to find the missing heir and encounters a web of deception. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Indonesian Literature, Adult Fiction, Thriller, Novels, Mystery Thriller

564 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Tom Topor (born 1938) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist.

Topor is the author of the 1980 play and 1987 screenplay Nuts, which became a starring vehicle for Barbra Streisand. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film, The Accused, which starred Jodie Foster. Topor won the Writers Guild of America Award for his screenplay for the 1990 made-for-television film, Judgment, which he also directed. In 1996 he won the Dilys Award for his novel, The Codicil.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book deserves a better rating than what is given here. It kept my attention throughout. A quick read. I would have liked to read more Adam Bruno detective novels, but it seems there is only one.

[Johnny Archer]

Well written and hard to put down. I recommend it.

[Bill Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The wealthy Matthew Marshall dies, but only after writing a codicil to his will. He added the codicil so he could leave half his huge estate to a daughter he has never met but fathered while a soldier in Vietnam. The executors of his estate, a high-priced NYC law firm, feel obligated to search for this girl, although they are not really all that interested in finding her. The law firm has worked with the Marshall family for many years and they know his wife and the children from their marriage very well, but do not know the mystery love from Vietnam nor the daughter that she and Marshal share.

They, the executors, do their best, hiring the experienced and diligent Adam Bruno to search. It is a compelling story. Bruno is an interesting character as is the deceased Marshall. Many of the other characters are interesting as well although I think author Tom Topor draws his male characters more convincingly than his female. Overall, I found this to be a fascinating detective story.

I would definitely read more if Adam Bruno were a series detective, but as far as I know, he is not.

[Maria Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

You have to understand the meaning of a codicil to understand the tone of this book. Adam Bruno is hired by the estate of one Matthew Marshell, who died from a stroke while spending time at his cabin. He had made a change to his will adding a codicil, requesting the estate do a search to find the woman and her child, who was definitely his, that he had unfortuantely, left behind in Vietnam. The family of Matthew Marshell, his wife Beth, and 2 of his children, were not n favor of this request, because the codicial changed the amount of money inherited. The oldest son, who was sucessful in the art world, a total opposite field to the father's technology field, felt it was worth loking into the possibilty of finding the other family of his father. Through a series of tracking old information using photos and matching names, Adam Bruno, is able to trace and locate the woman and the daughter, while dealing with threats to kill them. The Marshell household tries to negotiate a new settlement of less than what the codicil stated which is rejected, until Adam Bruno proves that the wife was behind the threats and deaths.

[John Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book with a satisfying ending although a little longer than it had to be and it consists of 99% just talking and arguing. Also has the most cringe description of a kissing scene that I’ve ever read.

An ex lawyer turned private investigator, Adam Bruno is investigating for a Wall Street rich man’s daughter who was conceived in his tour in Vietnam, who has died and left 50% of his $110 million in a will to her. As Adam comes closer to finding out where and who she is people starting mysteriously dying or MIA. Adam’s life may be on the line but he’s determined to find this woman. Who is the enemy here and how far are they willing to go to stop him?

[Rock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty cool story.
A little tricky to follow at times (of course you never get the whole story until you've read the whole story ;-), and some of the reactions seemed overly excessive, but none of that detracts from the narrative.
My understanding is this is a one-off which is a little disappointing as Adam Bruno, I think, would have made for a great series.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure if was me or the book really did start slowly; not bad, but enough that I could put it down. Later, it picked up and I finished it quickly. Some would say this is a thriller. I think it's a love story.

[Pat Braddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this at the beach in a day. It was an interesting storyline, well written, kept me totally engaged and got me a tan!

Funny how the author’s picture kinda was my idea of what the main character looked like.

[Frank Consalvo · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lot of fun. A good suspenseful story.

[Pete Partin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Topor writes great dialogue. This was a fascinating story and a real page turner. I wish he'd write more novels.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish Topor had written more than one book with the main character, Adam Bruno . . .

[Geoff Sebesta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books that I would sort of recommend if there was any reasonable way of finding it. But it's an airport novel from sixteen years ago and there are few things more thoroughly out of print than that. It's a sort of legal-eagle thriller in the style of The Firm where a tough-as-nails-but-deep-down-has-a-heart-of-gold lawyer searches for a dead rich man's Vietnam War child so that she can be given half of the inheritance and of course people don't want to her be found and blah blah blah. But the reason I read this book (and I flew through it in a day) is that Topor has an ear for dialogue and a knack for making things seem real. The lawyer is smart, very smart. He talks smart. The crazy Vietnam Vet, he talks crazy. Impressively crazy. The rich people talk rich, the poor people talk poor. The cop who's tired of abortion clinic bombings, he sounds tired and he's very specific about what he's tired about. One of the best scenes comes when Our Intrepid Hero goes to interview the millionaire's army buddy, who is now an LA shock jock, and will only talk about his Vietnam experiences live on the air. It's very well written, and DJ dialogue is hard to write. Topor does a good job of capturing love, and hate, and desire and exhaustion and ambition and revenge and the feelings of being too late and being walled off and et cetera and et cetera...

The plot, however, is dreadful, and the story fizzles out in a swarm of cliches. Consider it a picaresque of early 90s noir and it works alright.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matt Marshall had a heart attack and died at age fifty-one. Shortly before his death, he changed his will so that half of his $105 million dollar estate will go to a daughter he fathered while serving in Vietnam. He had never met this daughter, although he tried, and a conditin of the will is that his daughter is alive and living in the United States.

Former defense attorney turned private investigator, Adam Bruno is hired to find the woman. However, since Marshall's family stands to lose half of their inheritance, Adam can get no help from them. Matt's friends remain closed mouthed about Matt's and their own days in Vietnam.

Adam is persistent and learns a secret about the unit while in combat. He finally gets to interview the unit members but each time he feels as though progress is being made, something new stands in his path. Adam continues his search but some of the witnesses are killed and Matt's family and lawyers claim that he is not doing his job and should be replaced.

This is a touching story about a man's love. Clearly, Matt had these moments during the war and the tenderness he felt toward the woman he slept with, never went away. Adam is an easy character to sympathise with. He's honest, determined and an all around good-guy. The young woman he finds to translate letters, Nicole Maldonado was particularly well described.

Recommended.

[Sheila]

Matt Marshall died suddenly at age 15. Shortly before his death he changed his will so that 1/2 of his $105 million estate would go to a child he fathered while serving in Vietnam. The law firm probating the will hires Adam Bruno, PI, to find the child and mother (Cricket). Matt's wife and 3 children are not helping. His friends from the war don't want to talk about it. And someone is attempting to stop the investigation and destroy any leads Adam finds.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a bad book, not a good book, but not a bad book. Maybe I was expecting more from Tom Topor, who wrote the play Nuts. The dialogue was nothing special. Except for a few riveting scenes, the plotting was meh. The characters were unformed and bland. And the ending... oy vey...where the hell did that come from?

[Carla JFCL · Rating 5 out of 5]

I actually listened to this as an (unabridged) audiobook, and I really enjoyed it. It's a "mystery" of sorts, but of a different type than I've ever read before ... basically, a legal thriller with many twists and turns. The characters were compelling, and I liked the tie-in to the Vietnam war.

[Joe White · Rating 4 out of 5]

The descriptions of combat and general life in Vietnam resonate with a detail that matches many descriptions provided by many veterans with in country revelations.
The detective detail question list per topic might rank beside the detail of items that the best investigators would use.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last sentence in this book taught me absolutely everything i needed to know about how we show love.

[Rully Resa · Rating 3 out of 5]

cukup menegangkan dan seru, membawa pembaca menjadi penasaran sampai enggan melepaskan konsentrasi pada cerita.

[Janene]

My partner-in-crime Barb bought this for me! Thanks, girlfriend!

[Goodreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really liked this....read really smoothly & kept interest...surprised not a movie & that Topor doesn't have alot more published by now.

[Jill · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fast på svenska. Kass översättning, men den suger ändå tag i en.

[Al Stoess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well done. Ending could be better.

[Homer H. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like it!

[Lynne · Rating 2 out of 5]

put on your bedside table- you won't stay up past your bedtime because it's not that captivating. It read as though a good writer couldn't be bothered to put more time into it.

[Monica · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book reads more like an article than a story. No character to like, no story I can really get behind.

[Cara Fowler]

3 stars outta five.

[Toesnorth's mom]

pretty good

[Me · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my all-time top 10.

[krystle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to get into at first but definitely worth reading till the end.