The Accounting By William Lashner - Book Review

          The book begins when JJ Morretti goes to see his best friend, Auggie.  When he arrives at his home, he sees that Auggie has been murdered.  JJ knows that there there is no mystery as to the reason that he is murdered.  He knows who did it and he knows that he will be next. 

          From there, the story switches at times to Morretti’s childhood, with his two best friends, Auggie and Ben.  No, they weren’t geeky nerds although they were bullied in school by John Grubbins.  Derek Grubbins, John’s brother, was also a drug dealer who sold Morretti pot.  

           Morretti decided one night - along with his friends - to break into Grubbins house to steal some pot because he thought the quality of the pot that Grubbins sold him was terrible.  When they were in the house though, they also found over a million dollars in drug money stashed in garbage cans.   After little deliberation, the three decide to make the choice of stealing the money.  

           As I read through The Accounting, I thought that not only was it a thriller but it was a book that you might even think that would have been written by Elmore Leonard.  You have a lot of criminals throughout the book in the story that can be compared with early Leonard books such as 52 pickup. 

           Some of the characters include a motorcycle gang that is lead by foul mouth overweight woman.  Then there are of course the Grubbin’s, nasty characers who are thugs and drug dealers.   Then you have other thugs like Clevenger.  There is even a blend in the story of Morretti being a mortgage broker that can also take you back to some of Leonard’s other novels such as Stick.  

            Of course, you also have a very strong friendship between JJ, Ben and Auggie from the early days.  In one scene, you see the three of them getting high while listening and dancing to Bruce Springsteen.  It’s hard to have any empathy for any of them, especially JJ, since he is married now and has put his wife and children at risk since he stole the drug money in the first place.  

            With all that said, I’m really not giving anything away.  Lashner has written a great thriller in the spirt of Elmore Leonard.  The ratings on the book are high and it’s only $4.99 on Kindle.  The book is hard to put down and you have a lot of memorable characters, suspense, and an ending that you won’t forget anytime soon.   

            It’s easy for me to say that The Accounting is one of the best books that I have read this year.  If you’re a fan of Elmore Leonard, you should enjoy it as well.  It’s worth more than five stars.  

Ron Hummer