THE BODY BROKERS

In Cuban’s novel, a down-and-out former lawyer searches for answers about his girlfriend’s sudden death.

Jason Feldman is an erstwhile attorney in long-term addiction recovery working as a security guard in a Pittsburgh department store. He hates the boss (a former cop) he works under, and he’s been professionally disgraced—Jason was disbarred after lying to the FBI during a murder investigation in which he was, at first, the prime suspect—but he is slowly putting his life back together while he waits for his suspended law license to be reinstated. The main thing keeping him together is his girlfriend Emily, another former addict and current employee of an organization that aims to help those affected by drugs. When Emily turns up dead in her own home, the police suspect an overdose, but Jason and Emily’s best friend, Delaney—an ER doctor and also Emily’s roommate—think it is nearly impossible that she has relapsed. It just so happens that the detective in charge of the investigation, Jeanette Keane, is the same person who put the squeeze on Jason years ago during the investigation Jason obstructed. When the autopsy reveals a fentanyl overdose, Jason is still skeptical—all the more so when Emily’s former employer begins hounding him, offering a preposterous cash reward for her company-owned electronics (which have gone missing). As Jason scrambles for more information and tries to convince Delaney he wasn’t involved in Emily’s relapse, he notices he’s being followed by a mysterious crew-cut man in a black Lexus. Cuban’s protagonist is richly drawn, and readers will find themselves sympathizing with his success-turned-self-sabotage-turned-recovery arc, especially in moments when he laments his lost relationship with his son. While there are some descriptions that misfire (“the blemish-free skin and rectangular facial structure are a cross between Halle Berry and Rosario Dawson”), Cuban’s prose is generallysolid enough to keep readers moving through his well-plotted and compelling narrative.

A page-turning thriller with enough emotional heft to keep readers intrigued until the last line.