Clean Hands

A Novel

By: Patrick Hoffman

Narrated by: Christina Delaine

Corporate lawyer Elizabeth Carlyle is under a lot of pressure. Her prestigious New York law firm is working on the most high-stakes case in company history defending a prominent bank. When Elizabeth gets the news that one of her junior associates has lost his phone - and the secret documents that were on it - she needs help. Badly.

Enter ex-CIA officer Valencia Walker, a high-priced fixer who gets called in when governments, corporations, and plutocrats need their problems solved discretely. But things get complicated when the missing phone is retrieved: Somebody has already copied the documents, and now they're blackmailing the firm. When the situation gets murkier still - hinting that darker forces may be churning below the surface - Elizabeth and Valencia must maneuver and outmaneuver whomever is behind this and, most importantly, keep their hands clean.

This is a world of private security, private diplomacy, and private justice. A sharply drawn cast of characters - dirty lawyers, black-market traders, Russian criminals, and extrajudicial actors - all take part in this breakneck tour through New York. Authentic, tense, and impossible to pause, Clean Hands gives a vivid look at the connections between corporation, government, and underworld.

©2020 Patrick Hoffman (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

More Valencia please

I downloaded this book on a lark, being unfamiliar with the author and having read next to nothing about the book. I just wanted something different.
I guess I would broadly characterize it as corporate intrigue but that’s not right. Neither is political espionage. Neither is Old Fashioned WhoDunnit. But it’s an interesting blend of the three, and if you’re willing to forgive some stereotyping, the story keeps your attention and the narration for the main character is a bonus.
The author would be remiss in not exploring the character of Valencia Walker further and more books, and I will keep an eye out for her. It’s about time we got a female Jason Bourne

Great book

I've been searching for alternatives to Michael Connelly and John Grisham. This one really hits the mark. Valencia is a great character. All characters, large and small, get equal stage time in terms of their innermost thoughts, which makes for an engrossing peoplescape. I can't quite articulate why, but Hoffman's depictions of actions, events are spot-on, with just the right level of subtle detail. And it's a NYC story, with the city featuring as a vibrant character. Loved it. Delaine's narration feels a little flat and robotic, but I began to suspect that was a conscious choice in portraying this world where all color is drained by a ubiquitous amorality. And her differentiation of character voices is strong: By subtle changes in her inflection, you get to where you can tell two Russian brothers apart without attribution. Brilliant.

Fun

Well Worth a credit. If you haven’t yet Check out the first two books. Mazel tov Mr. Huffman

Mystifying end to this mystery

A drama around a lawsuit and cia involvement in the Middle East. It more or less comes together but I was left with a few questions.

Clean hands make white knuckles

Exceptional thriller for these dirty times. Loved the authenticity and originality of this one not to mention the clear clean prose. Mister Hoffman intimately knows what he’s talking about. A definite page listener with good narration

c

Don’t Bother

Book has a great premise, but it’s terribly executed. The story is all over the place with sub plots that lead nowhere. Narrator is slooow—I immediately set the speed on 1.2x just so the pace would be normal. Great waste of 10 hours of listening. Ugh.

Don’t select this under Clean Fiction

I was looking for clean fiction and I think the query literally pulled anything with clean in the title (which this is not).

Huh?

This books wanders like 5 year old in a toy store. And then it ends?! My dog's chew towel has fewer loose ends. Yeah, it seems as if Patrick Hoffman has sufficient craft control to animate characters, but not the imagination to decide what to do with them. Christina Delaine makes this all sound as if there's a purpose to what this ensemble's doing, but finally, there's none. The best I can say is that Clean Hands is a long book.