cover image Fifteen Digits

Fifteen Digits

Nick Santora. Little, Brown/Mulholland, $24.99 (336p) ISBN 978-0-316-17631-6

Heavy-handed foreshadowing undercuts the suspense of this modern-day thriller from Santora (Slip & Fall), a writer for such TV shows as The Sopranos and Law & Order. In the prologue, Jason Spade, eventually revealed to be a disgruntled junior lawyer at Olmstead & Taft (“the biggest, baddest, toughest, and most powerful law firm in all of New York City”), has a bar conversation with Rich Mauro, a former construction worker who recently landed a job in the firm’s basement printing office. Spade wants to exploit the “invisibility” of support staff like Mauro and his co-workers to get rich. As soon as Spade begins to pitch a scheme, Santora tells us that “a chain of events began that changed, destroyed, and ended lives. People would be maimed, tortured, and killed. Millions of dollars would be stolen, then stolen away from the thieves themselves.” With so much revealed from the outset, continued engagement is contingent on good prose and thoughtful characterization, both of which are in short supply. Agent: Jay Mandel, William Morris. (Apr.)