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  ADVANCE PRAISE

  “Ronald S. Barak’s The Puppet Master is an outstanding, relentlessly paced whodunnit with sky-high stakes and a jaw-dropping twist. One of the year’s best thrillers. The second book in Barak’s great Brooks/Lotello thriller series, the prequel to The Amendment Killer, is the perfect entry point for new readers. In The Puppet Master, we are fully immersed in Brooks’ insights, anxieties and ethics as he realizes the impossible task of maintaining complete impartiality. When Lotello approaches him to share his concerns about the investigation, both men are acutely aware that their careers are on the line if anyone were to find out. Privately, both men are understandably rattled by the times in which we live, an era in which mass political resentment and political violence are fast becoming the norm. Throughout, as Barak offers snatches of the killers’ point of view, clever readers may figure out the motive before Lotello can, but the intricacies of the plot will leave most in awe. The Puppet Master has the makings of a big tent bestseller, but legal thriller fans in particular will also delight in the book’s heady courtroom drama.”—BEST THRILLERS MAGAZINE

  “First The Amendment Killer, now The Puppet Master, whenever Barak brings it, the result is always the same, tense, timely and terrific!—LEE CHILD, #1 New York Times Bestselling author of the Jack Reacher novels

  “Great news for readers who love smart writing, realistic plots, and timely topics. U.S. District Court Judge Cyrus Brooks and homicide detective Frank Lotello are back in action! We first met the pair in The Amendment Killer, Ron Barak’s sizzling 2017 novel. Barak, a master of the hybrid legal/political thriller, always seems to be a step ahead of the headlines. He finished The Puppet Master well before the wave of pipe bombs were delivered to prominent political personalities. So we should have no trouble buying into the new novel’s inciting incident: the assassination of three Washington politicians in three days. Were the politicians corrupt? Has someone been framed for the killings? Will justice be done? Barak’s finely honed storytelling technique is on brightly lit display. In brief, brisk, suspenseful chapters with plot twists aplenty, Barak takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through the marble corridors and wood paneled offices and courtrooms of Washington, D.C. Best keep your seatbelt buckled! The Puppet Master is a helluva ride”—PAUL LEVINE, bestselling author of Bum Deal

  “The Puppet Master is a political thriller extraordinaire, chock full of headline-grabbing ingredients spiced with scarily prescient speculation about the political state of our country today. Ron Barak chooses from a menu mastered by the likes of David Baldacci and Brad Meltzer in crafting a tale as compelling as it is ominous. Riveting, relentless, a story as well plotted as it is crafted”—JON LAND, USA Today bestselling author of both the Murder, She Wrote series and the Caitlin Strong novels

  “Ron Barak’s The Puppet Master moves through D.C. politics with the wicked swiftness of an assassin’s bullet. Lean, mean, and razor sharp.”—BARRY LANCET, award-winning author of Japantown and The Spy Across the Table

  “Barak shakes Washington D.C. to the core with an all-too-real political and legal blockbuster. In this masterfully plotted whodunnit, The Puppet Master, clues are peppered throughout the text in such a subtle and clever manner, the ending is both surprising and inevitable. Brilliant and believable”—K.J. HOWE, bestselling author of The Freedom Broker and Skyjack”

  The Puppet Master is a deft legal and political thriller that taps into growing public dissatisfaction with those who govern us. Ronald S Barak uses his two engaging leads, Trial Court Judge Cyrus Brooks and Homicide Detective Frank Lotello, to explore complex host of moral and political issues. An accomplished, tense thriller, The Puppet Master offers real depth that keeps one thinking long after finishing the final gripping page.”—ADAM HAMDY, author of the internationally acclaimed Pendulum trilogy.

  The Puppet Master is absolutely riveting! With a story easily pulled from tomorrow’s headlines, before they’re even written, Ron Barak unravels this whodunnit political thriller with the skill of a seasoned veteran.—J.D. BARKER, International Bestselling Author of The Fourth Monkey

  “Politics. Sex. Power. Betrayal. Intrigue. Conspiracy. Murder. The strings of suspense Ronald S. Barak expertly pulls in his newest whodunnit mystery thriller, The Puppet Master.”—SANDRA BRANNAN author of the Liv Bergen Mystery Series

  “A high concept thriller that pulls you in from the very first page. Washington power players, back door deals, and richly layered characters. Ron Barak’s The Puppet Master is a story that will stay with you long after you’ve read the last word.—LIV CONSTANTINE, internationally bestselling author of The Last Mrs. Parrish

  “The Puppet Master moves at the speed of a bullet, deliciously skewering power Washington along the way. You’ll hope for a delayed flight, a snow storm, or a long wait at the doctor’s office to finish this one! Another killer thriller from Ron Barak’s Brooks/Lotello series.”—ANTHONY FRANZE, author of The Outsider

  Ronald S. Barak’s The Puppet Master is a masterfully plotted whodunnit. Savvy D.C. trial court judge Cyrus Brooks and crafty D.C. homicide detective Frank Lotello—powerful and appealing characters with whom you’d love to spend an evening-each smart, humorous, and possessing a strong sense of honesty and morality—team up to lead the reader into the corrupt world of politics in order to solve a series of murders committed by a presumably warped and broken adversary. Barak gives us a terrific suspenseful thriller novel laden with character, pizzazz, and a lot of heart.—YIGAL ZUR, Israeli international bestselling author of Death in Shangri-La

  “Ernest Hemingway once wrote, All good books have one thing in common – they are truer than if they had really happened.’ He must’ve had Ron Barak’s latest novel, The Puppet Master, in mind. With the eye of a lawyer and the touch of an artist, Barak masterfully paints a picture in words that keep his readers captivated until the very last page. The writing is crisp and compelling, the story line is a true page turner, and the result is as satisfying as Hemingway had in mind. The Puppet Master sets the stage brilliantly as a prequel to Barak’s first novel, The Amendment Killer. Over my almost forty-year career as an historian I have come to revere the written word. Ron Barak’s works yet again show me why. I eagerly await the next volume in Barak’s Brooks/Lotello thriller series, for one thing is certain: Ron Barak does not disappoint!”—JASON H. SILVERMAN, Ellison Capers Palmer Jr. Professor of History Emeritus, Author of Lincoln and the Immigrant and the forthcoming historical novel, Lincolns Magician

  The Puppet Master is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Except as otherwise noted in the Author’s Note, any resemblance to actual events or people, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2019 by Ronald S. Barak

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be produced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and in certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  Printed and published in the United States of America by:

  Los Angeles, California

  www.ganderhouse.com

  Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-7327204-0-4

  Trade Paperback ISBN: 978-1-7327204-1-1

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-7327204-2-8

  Audiobook ISBN: 978-1-7327204-3-5

  First Edition

  Publisher’s Cataloging-In-Publication Data

  (Prepared by The Donohue Group, Inc.)

  Names: Barak, Ronald S.

  Title: The puppe
t master / Ronald S. Barak.

  Description: First edition. | Los Angeles, California : Gander House Publishers, [2019] | Series: A

  Brooks/Lotello thriller; [2]

  Identifiers: ISBN 9781732720404 (hardback) | ISBN 9781732720411 (paperback) | ISBN

  9781732720428 (ebook)

  Subjects: LCSH: Serial murders–United States–

  Fiction. | Political corruption–United States–Fiction. | Detectives–United States–Fiction. | Judges–United States–Fiction. | LCGFT: Legal

  fiction (Literature) | Thrillers (Fiction)

  Classification: LCC PS3602.A73 P96 2019 (print) | LCC PS3602.A73 (ebook) | DDC 813/.6–dc23

  In Memory of

  EILEEN LONERGAN

  To my beautiful and wonderful Goose

  The man who pardons easily,

  courts injury

  —CORNEILLE

  Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued,

  is always just beyond your grasp,

  but if you will sit down quietly,

  may alight upon you.

  —HAWTHORNE

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  PART ONE: THE CRIMINALS: FEBRUARY 5–8

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  PART TWO: THE ARREST: FEBRUARY 9–11

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  PART THREE: THE CIRCUS: FEBRUARY 11–16

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  PART FOUR: THE CRIMINALS (CONTINUED): JULY 13–30

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  PART FIVE: THE TRIAL: AUGUST 3–7

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  Chapter 103

  Chapter 104

  Chapter 105

  Chapter 106

  Chapter 107

  Chapter 108

  Chapter 109

  Chapter 110

  Chapter 111

  Chapter 112

  Chapter 113

  Chapter 114

  Chapter 115

  Chapter 116

  Chapter 117

  Chapter 118

  Chapter 119

  PART SIX: DELIBERATION: August 7–10

  Chapter 120

  Chapter 121

  Chapter 122

  Chapter 123

  Chapter 124

  Chapter 125

  Chapter 126

  Chapter 127

  Chapter 128

  Chapter 129

  Chapter 130

  Chapter 131

  Chapter 132

  Chapter 133

  Chapter 134

  EPILOGUE: AUGUST 10–SEPTEMBER 28

  Chapter 135

  Chapter 136

  Chapter 137

  Chapter 138

  Chapter 139

  Chapter 140

  Chapter 141

  Chapter 142

  Chapter 143

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  AUTHOR NOTE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  MORE … BROOKS AND LOTELLO

  Solitude, seeming a sanctuary, proves a grave, a sepulcher in which the living lie, where all good qualities grow sick and die.

  —COWPER

  PROLOGUE

  Undated

  HE DIDN’T THINK HE was a bad person. But he acknowledged how that could be open to debate. Others would disagree. Maybe it all came down to the definition of bad.

  The window shades were drawn. What scant light there was came from a single lamp sitting on the desk.

  It was quiet. Just the two of them. In the one room. He wondered how the prowler had overlooked him. Sitting right there at the desk. His desk. It is my desk, damn it. In my room. Looking at my computer. Right here. The words I had chosen to read right here. On my computer. How could this trespasser be so brazen? So impudent?

  A lesson needed to be taught. And he would be the teacher. Starting right here. Right now.

  Without warning, the man stood and charged the intruder. Startled, certainly now aware of the man’s presence, if he hadn’t been before, his adversary seemed surprised and hurriedly sought a way out. Realizing he had no avenue of escape, the interloper turned and confronted the man. Mano a mano.

  They stared at one another. The man edged forward, backing his foe into the corner. He perched on one leg, elevating the other, à la the black belt expert that he was. Once was. Poised like a rattlesnake. Ready to strike.

  Trapped, sensing the misfortune about to find its mark, the invader made one last desperate attempt to scurry away beyond the man’s reach. But it was too late. The blow squarely found its target. No second assault would be necessary.

  These insufferable parasites just don’t get it. There’s a price to be paid. A lesson to be learned. Right from wrong. I will teach them. Someone has to. As often as it takes.

  The man bent down, grasped the smashed cockroach between his thumb and forefinger, and deposited it into the wastebasket. His wastebasket.

  Not everyone would agree. No. But he didn’t think he was a bad person. Not at all. He was just … willing to do whatever it took.

  * * *

  THE WASHINGTON, D.C., SUPERIOR Court system consisted of 117 sitting trial court judges. Their primary task was to assure an impartial administration of justice. The kind that was supposed to be at the heart of every civilized society. Fairness and balance were the cornerstones of impartiality.

  In the criminal courtroom, fairness required the avoidance of surprise. Balance meant equal respect for the interests of all concerned. The accused
. The victim. And the public. Without fairness and balance, the ability to distinguish between accused and victim might prove unclear. As would maintaining the civilized character of our society.

  Judge Cyrus Brooks had always thought of himself as among the best of those 117 active judges. Lately, however, he was beginning to wonder whether he was still up to the task.

  If a man was arrested for robbing a convenience store, it was clear who the accused was, who the victim was, and what the public craved—upholding peace and order. Simple and straightforward. Right? Easy for any disciplined and competent judge to impartially manage his courtroom to achieve the “correct” outcome. Right?

  But what if the accused had been down on his luck? Destitute? Try as he had, unable to find a job? What if all he had been doing when caught was stealing a loaf of bread and a carton of milk to feed his kids? After he had already exhausted his food stamps for the month, with ten days to go? What if he wasn’t carrying a weapon when he entered the convenience store. But the store proprietor was? And hadn’t hesitated to use it.

  Once upon a time, if you were unhappy about things, you wrote your congressman. If he ignored you, then you didn’t vote for him the next time around. You voted for the other guy. Maybe you even campaigned for the other guy.

  But what if the problem you were unhappy about was your congressman? What if you thought he wasn’t doing his job? Worse, what if you thought he was on the take? Corrupt. And what if the other guy was just as bad? Then what?

  Brooks knew you couldn’t just take matters into your own hands. Go out and shoot someone just because you were unhappy with something. Let alone shoot a whole bunch of people. People you didn’t even know.

  Or could you?

  More and more, there were those today who seemed quite willing to do precisely that. To kill complete strangers just … because.

  That was the crux of what had been troubling Brooks of late. What if one of those “alleged” killers was arrested, and assigned for trial to his courtroom? Could he still assure the accused, the families of the victim—or victims—and the people of D.C. that he remained able to impartially administer a fair and balanced trial? Could he genuinely suppress his personal views in the face of everything else going on in our society today?