Denise Hamilton, author of the Edgar-nominated Eve Diamond series, provides her readers with another prizeworthy novel in her latest standalone title, Damage Control. This multi-layered work features a mystery that leads Hamilton’s protagonist into a dangerous confrontation with events rooted in her past.
Damage Control centers on the murder of 23-year-old Emily Mortimer, a political aide to U.S. Senator Henry Paxton. Maggie Silver, a member of Thomas Blair’s prestigious Los Angeles public relations firm, is assigned to limit the effects of the consequent scandal on the senator’s reputation.
Maggie’s desire to clear the Senator from any suspicion of involvement in Emily’s death is both professional and personal. Professionally, as a new recruit to Blair Company, Maggie wants to prove her value to the firm. Personally, she and Paxton’s daughter, Anabelle, had been best friends during two of their high school years before a tragic event at a beach party ended that relationship.
The discovery the Attorney General’s office is investigating her boss, Jack Faraday, for unethical practices shakes Maggie’s commitment to Blair Company. It also causes her to question her romantic involvement with fellow employee Matt Tyler.
However, it is Maggie’s renewed association with the Paxtons that proves even more devastating. As a teenager, Maggie had been dazzled by the glamorous facade presented by Anabelle’s family. As an adult concerned with their responses to Emily Mortimer's death, Maggie realizes that sometimes damage control may require demolishing such images rather than maintaining them.
Central to this novel is the issue of the consequences past events have on the present. "Does the past every really go away?" Maggie wonders as the novel draws to a conclusion. "Or does it remain inside us, hidden under calluses of age and experience but still affecting everything we do the rest of our lives?" The suspenseful resolution of Hamilton’s newest novel provides the answer to this question.
FTC Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided by the author's publicist.
Comments