Law of Gravity

by Stephen Horn

Washington lawyer Philip Barkley was on the fast track, until scandal and personal tragedy brought him down. Left shattered and haunted, he now has a chance to make a fresh start. An aide to Senator Warren Young, the head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has vanished and may be a spy -- an eventuality that could destroy Young's plans for a White House run. And when Barkley's investigation into the disappearance uncovers a corpse, everyone wants the matter quickly closed -- except Philip Barkley. A broken man of integrity with nothing left to lose, he's following a twisted trail of secrets, betrayal, corruption, and brutal murder that winds through the darkest shadows of Washington power. And he won't rest until the whole truth is revealed, no matter who is determined to stop him ... and how far they are willing to go.

Genres: Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Legal Thriller, Suspense, Crime

416 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Law of Gravity is a great political thriller – believable characters, an engaging plot with enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages and realistic enough to make you think the story could happen.

The protagonist, Phillip Barkley, is a Justice Department lawyer who for a variety of personal, political and professional reasons is now on the outside of inner Washington, DC. Because of his predicament he is deemed the perfect person to investigate the disappearance of a Senator’s aide, the Senator a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. The aide may or may not be a spy and the Senator he works for is one step away from the White House. Everyone of course wants a thorough investigation but without tarnishing anyone’s reputation – and electability – except for poor Phillip’s – he’s expendable. And the quicker he can wrap things up the sooner he’ll find himself out of Washington and working on the west coast.

If only life worked so simply. Barkley soon finds himself embroiled in a personal conflict – his ex-wife is involved in the investigation – as well as digging into the unsolved death of a Hungarian refugee, 50 years ago in New York. Phillip is teamed up with the FBI, but he’s unclear as to whom he can trust in the Hoover Building and eventually teams up with a retired NY detective – a great character - as his search for the truth takes him around the country.

Enough said because I don’t want to ruin the plot. The good news is this is a hard to put down book once you start reading it. The bad news is that it’s just one of two books Mr. Horn has written. The other In Her Defense is also an excellent read. Hopefully this author will pick up his pen again soon.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pretty good mystery, and near the end there was some really good action. Characterization was better than most as the lawyer chosen to help whitewash the investigation into the disappearance of a congressional aide double-crosses the justice department so he can continue his investigation.

There was this really cool concept-- the reason that this lawyer was chosen for this was because he had experienced a nervous breakdown following the death of his daughter.

The Law of Gravity line is interesting as well... in order to prevent spoiling, I won't share that one with you-- but there are some cool and interesting twists in this one. Just a touch above average, worth the time to read, but a little slow developing in the beginning.

[Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A not-bad thriller. It's billed as a legal thriller as the lead character is an attorney with the Justice department but the story reminds me more of Harlan Coben than Grisham. My biggest gripe with this book is it's EXTREMELY talky. I imagine novels I read as films the majority of the time and if this book were adapted to the screen as-is I suspect viewers would be bored. However, as print is a static medium, dialogue works OK here. The dialogue does dilute some of the suspense, though, as it explains some of the same things repeatedly. There are some terrific characters in this readers should enjoy. In particular, an elderly retired detective named McSorley is a lot of fun.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A taut, political thriller that kept the reader fully engaged in the story. Normally this reader would not rate a story with plot twists that were blatantly obvious and one major detour that seemed pretty contrived five stars, but on the whole this was a book that begged the reader to keep on reading, just one more chapter. The main character, Philip Barkley, is a damaged soul, who lost his child, his wife, and his ambition, basically in that order and is one short step way from losing his job as a Justice Department lawyer. His ex is now the wife of a Senator, who is the presumptive nominee for president when the current president's term expires. The Senator has a problem that needs to be cleaned up before it derails his political ambitions. Suffice it to say that Philip is called upon to keep the investigation honest and he faces untold dangers when he doggedly manages to do that even when all of the political pressure has been marshaled against him. The only drawback to the story was that the reader kept putting the next puzzle piece in place long before the protagonist and had the whole picture pretty much figured out early on. The ending was a mild surprise, only in the extent of its gentleness. The righteous crusader would want something more visceral. But again, this was a tale that the reader just couldn't put down for long. Here's hoping that the author has a few more books in him.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Must Read! Loved this book. Thank you Bev Wowak (our Readers Advisor) for yet another read that challenges the reader and creates questions while answering others. Cannot put this book down. Stephen Horn has now made it to my top 5 authors to always read.

[Karen Knapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very engaging murder betrayal suspense story. A perfect read for a couple of rainy April days.

[Abdul Qayoum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very exciting and interesting circumstance to be in.

[Jannelies (living between hope and fear) · Rating 4 out of 5]

In een stijlvol grijs/zwart omslag, met subtiele gele en witte accenten, komt een verhaal tot ons zoals ze momenteel niet vaak geschreven worden. Natuurlijk zijn er enkele bekende elementen: de vermoeide ambtenaar wiens dochtertje is overleden, wiens vrouw met een ander is getrouwd en wiens bazen hem niet vertrouwen, de jonge enthousiaste vrouwelijke FBI-agente en de oude gepensioneerde rechercheur. Deze tamelijk uitgekauwde personages worden echter nieuw leven ingeblazen door Stephen Horn, die hen bij elkaar brengt in één verhaal met een begaafde jonge joodse ambtenaar, een aantal niets-ontziende politici en een paar vrouwen uit het verleden.

Als Philip Barkley, vermoeide en afgeknapte ambtenaar, op een dag de opdracht krijgt een rapport te schrijven over de verdwijning van ene Martin Green, ontdekt hij gaandeweg dat de verdwijning van Green niet op zichzelf staat. Er wijzen sporen naar het verleden. De tentakels van de akelige dingen die toen gebeurd zijn, hebben zich echter vastgezet in het heden. En zo is de cirkel rond. Een presidentskandidaat dient beschermd te worden met alle middelen die er zijn, zo leert dit verhaal ons. Behalve een spannend verhaal, geeft het boek ook een goed inzicht in de politiek in Washington. Na het lezen van dit boek ben ik eens te meer blij geen Amerikaan te zijn. Die arme zielen worden nog erger bedot dan wij door onze politici. Schrijven kan meneer Horn. En de vertaling was deze keer in bekwame handen.

[Darren Bourn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was another one of those books that I found downstairs in the condo "library" (repository of book read by other members of the condo). This was one of those books that I had picked up based on it's cover ( "racoon principle").

I found this book to be slow and plodding ( actually the only reason that i kept reading was because of the reviews from goodreads.com), with the plot really not picking up steam until about half way through. The end to the story was a nice twist.

As such, I rate this book about three stars in a scale of five.

As with all reviews, this is merely my five cents worth.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun read, and well written for a popular novel. It had several surprises, along with twists and turns, that kept me guessing until the end. The characters were fairly one dimensional, but you don't read a book like this for character depth. All in all, I got what I was looking for, which was an interesting, plot-driven thriller. The book also takes place in Washington D.C., so for anyone who lives in or knows Washington well, it is entertaining to have the events of the story located at sites you know and love.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this book a B- on my personal A to F scale.

It starts out much stronger than it finishes, sort of dribbling to a conclusion after more words and pages than it really requires to complete the story. Other than the protagonist, Philip Barkley, all other characters are wooden, one-dimensional and simplistically rendered. This reads like a much too-lightly edited first book from a very promising but under-practiced writer.

[Peter Andersson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one should appeal to fans of Linwood Barclay and Harlan Coben, like it did to me.

Written in first person perspective and that's one of the things I look for in older books down at the second hand market - not as an absolute rule, but generally those stories ages better since they have less fluff and more focus on story. Four stars, with a five star wrap-up finishing bunch of chapters.

[Janice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I will admit that it took me a chapter or two to get into this book. I like lawyer/FBI novels well enough, but my favorite parts are the investigations and problem solving required to make a case. This book definitely has a lot of investigating and a few twists that really made it interesting to me. I especially liked McSorely, he was quite a character.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this book was a complete page-turner. It grabbed me from the beginning and I didn't find it to start too slow as some others mentioned. Then again, I prefer suspense to build a little at a time, not all at once and I found this author did that really well.

[Maryann Winfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

FANTASTIC book! If a movie is ever made about this book, I want to see it! The characters are believable. The plot is unpredictable. Some of the more nefarious characters in the book are awfully close to people in the news today. Loved reading this book and highly recommend it!

[Kelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was really slow for me in the beginning. I don't particularly enjoy politics/Washington stuff. 1/3rd in it started getting interesting. The character development was palatable. Phillip was a sympathetic character...so flawed and flat. Glad I hung in there.

[Dorothy Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Philip Barkley is a sympathetic character, though I liked him better when he flushed his pills. We can only hope Washington DC isn't really like this, but I'm afraid it probably is.

[Janelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good book about washington and wwii camps

[Jenna Walker]

I read so many bad reviews on this about people not being able to finish it. That it was so slow and boring that they had to put it down. Well, I felt that way too.. at first. At the beginning, I thought "this whole book can not be entirely about trying to find this missing guy." But it changed it got good. Once I was over that slow hump I couldnt stop reading it. This book was a true government conspiracy book. I found myself thinking that someone was staking me out. Like someone could come through my door any second and get me. I felt no emotion in the beginning of the book but then so much after the first few chapters. I guess thats how he wanted it to be since thats how the main characters emotions were. Nothing and then a rush. So far Horn has not disappointed me.

[Hasan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Law of Gravity is a “political thriller” with an interesting cast of characters usually not thrown together to solve a mystery. The main character, Philip Barkley, is an aging out of favor Government attorney who is hunting for clues in the death of and aide Martin Green. Eventually he is joined in this by a retired NYC police man and a sexy up and coming FBI agent. The twists and turns of the story and the characters are very good, but the solution to the case was obvious to me at least 20 chapters before the crew of sleuths figured it out. I am not sure if the predictability was entirely the authors fault or just the result of so many similar stories that once the reader gets a few details the reader knows where the story is going.

[Andrea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book earlier this year but didn't write a review at that time. I picked it up again, read some familiar passages and the last 1/3rd of the book.
Philip Barkley is barely hanging on to his job after a series of family tragedies. Precipitated by his testimony on Capitol Hill. Philip is known as a man who puts ahead of politics and self- interest. Now he is beaten down and wants out.
His boss at the Justice Dept wants Barkey to head an investigation into the disappearance of a key senate aid on a key Senate committee. The chairman of that committee has all but been designated as the next party nominee for president. To add additional stress, Senator Young is married to Philip Barkley's ex-wife.

[Jody · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started out kind of slow but before you knew it Horn dug his hooks in you and wouldn't let you go. This was a very good read and not as predictable as you would think. You have all planned out and maybe even are rooting for some characters and then the plot twists and you find yourself rooting against the very one or two you may have been pulling for. This was the first book I have read by this author and would be happy to read more in the future.

[Marti · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book has an interesting hero, philip barkley, once married to the wife of a presidential hopeful, who pair first with a good looking fbi agent, and later with a retired cop, mcsorley, to track down the answers to why people keep getting killed, before he does. there's a little holocaust history included. it moves along well.

[Hyacinthe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just another one of those trashy things, which I read to kill time at the hospital.
This book is just another one of those standard cop things where there's a guy and a girl and they uncover a conspiracy and the guy gets absolution for something or other. And also he gets the girl.
So it wasn't special in any way, but it was alright when I had time to kill sitting in the hospital bed.

[Donna Hulsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story about politics, espionage, and other mysteries. A lawyer, once on the fast track to political fame, loses his young daughter and sends his life into a tailspin. Eventually losing his wife to divorce and his career to a scandal, he first gets drawn into what ends up being a 50 year old murder. Enjoyed the writing, and the twists and turns of the story. Great ending.

[Chuck · Rating 4 out of 5]

A down and nearly out Justice Department lawyer is assigned to join with an FBI agent to investigate the disappearance of an aide to the Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Was this aide a spy?

[Gail · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of twists and turns in this mystery based in D.C. A government lawyer becomes caught up in a fascinating case dating to the 1950's and involving holocaust victims. Great characters and fast moving.

[Deby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another well-written book by this author. Several different sub-plots going on at the same time involving the Justice Department, FBI and private investigators. Thoroughly enjoyed reading as it covered several generations of people in different countries.

[Sheelah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. It kept me interested and I was interested in the Characters. Philip may have been a little naive in trusting Susan. But I enjoyed the book and read it mostly in one day. I will read his first book very soon.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked this one better than In Her Defense. The story was 100 times better and the characters were much more interesting. :)