Nemesis: The Final Case of Eliot Ness - William Bernhardt

Written by William Bernhardt
Read by Mark Deakins
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps
Unabridged

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group
Release date: January 13, 2009
Duration: 09:58:27

William Bernhardt has explored the dark side of contemporary politics, power, and the law. Now Bernhardt turns back the clock to the city of Cleveland, Ohio, in the fall of 1935. Based on true events and new discoveries about Eliot Ness, Nemesis is a brilliantly told story featuring this legendary lawman’s fateful duel with a terrifyingly new kind of criminal: America’s first serial killer.

In Chicago, Eliot Ness had created “the Untouchables,” the fabled team of federal agents who were beyond corruption and who finally put Al Capone behind bars. The headline-grabbing Ness has now been moved to Cleveland, where a new mayor desperately needs some positive publicity. The heroic, squeaky-clean Fed is the perfect man to become the city’s director of public safety, but by the time Ness starts his new job, a killer has started a career of his own. And this man is as obsessed with blood and mayhem as Eliot Ness is obsessed with justice.

Though it’s not his turf, Ness is forced to cross bureaucratic boundaries and take over the case, working with a dogged, street-smart detective and making enemies every step of the way. The more energy Ness pours into the investigation, the more it takes over his life, his marriage, even his untouchable reputation. Because in Cleveland, there is only one true untouchable: a killer who has the perfect hiding place and the perfect plan for destroying Eliot Ness.

Mark Deakins’s portrayal of famous lawman Eliot Ness is almost untouchable. It’s glib, agile, and sometimes stilted. But so was Ness. Deakins plays Ness as moody, publicity seeking, and detached; the story’s evildoer he depicts as dark and menacing. William Bernhardt, who writes legal thrillers, has switched gears to produce a book about an actual series of grotesque murders–dubbed “The Torso Murders”–which occurred in Cleveland, Ohio, 1935-38. Ness, who was hired as public safety director in Cleveland after achieving fame for imprisoning gangster Al Capone, is drawn into the pursuit of the killer. Deakins portrays Ness as the enigma he was; he’s really smart about some things–like captivating the press–but totally clueless about others–like pleasing his lonely wife. Still for those of us who were once touched by “The Untouchables,” Berhardt and Deakins add another dimension to their story. A.L.H. (c) AudioFile 2009,