{"id":19072,"date":"2023-12-18T20:06:36","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T01:06:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=19072"},"modified":"2023-12-18T20:06:36","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T01:06:36","slug":"the-inside-man-by-m-a-rothman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/?p=19072","title":{"rendered":"‘The Inside Man,’ by M. A. Rothman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The year\u2019s almost over, <\/strong>so I think I can safely say that, in all likelihood, M. A. Rothman\u2019s The Inside Man<\/a><\/em> boasts the weirdest scenario I\u2019ve come across in a novel all year. It\u2019s effectively written and entertaining, but bizarre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Levi Yoder, our hero, is a young man who was originally Amish. Somehow (I guess it\u2019s explained in the first novel in the series \u2013 this is the second) he got involved with the New York Mafia, which became a second family to him. He was even declared a \u201cmade man,\u201d an \u201chonor\u201d usually restricted to Italians. Then he got cancer, but had an unexplained remission. After that, he grew stronger, faster, and was endowed with certain extra talents, like eidetic memory. He continues to work with the Mafia, but he\u2019s allowed to do only jobs he wants to do. He has a sideline in rescuing young girls from human traffickers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A request comes to his bosses from the Japanese Yakuza. One of their leaders has an American granddaughter, a little girl. She has been kidnapped. The grandfather has heard of Levi\u2019s skills, and will be very generous if he can find and rescue the girl. Levi is happy to take on the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But then there\u2019s an interruption. Levi is arrested and interrogated by the FBI. He\u2019s rescued by a shadowy figure who says he works for an independent, non-government agency that fights human trafficking by any means necessary. They\u2019ll help Levi if he\u2019ll help them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also meets \u2013 and cooperates with \u2013 a Chinese double agent, a beautiful woman with a penchant for nudity and a phobia about being touched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think this is what\u2019s known as a \u201chigh concept\u201d story. It takes place in the real world, but has over-the-top elements. The plot rolls right along, dispensing lots of action and suspense, but for this reader it had a kind of a Hollywood, CGI feel. I should probably have approached it more as fantasy than as an ordinary mystery\/thriller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also have to admit I have trouble with the depiction of Mafiosi as decent, honorable fellas. I believe that tradition is long past, and was grossly exaggerated even in the old days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You may like the book, though. It certainly was entertaining. The Inside Man<\/em> earns full marks as a page-turner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The year\u2019s almost over, so I think I can safely say that, in all likelihood, M. A. Rothman\u2019s The Inside Man boasts the weirdest scenario I\u2019ve come across in a novel all year. It\u2019s effectively written and entertaining, but bizarre. Levi Yoder, our hero, is a young man who was originally Amish. Somehow (I guess … Continue reading ‘The Inside Man,’ by M. A. Rothman<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[7,15],"tags":[4996,4995,4997],"class_list":["post-19072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","category-reviews","tag-levi-yoder","tag-m-a-rothman","tag-the-inside-man"],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19073,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19072\/revisions\/19073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brandywinebooks.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}