Review: Give Dana a chance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 04 8, 2013
"Thursday's List" is a financial crime/ legal thriller set in the heydays of the Cali cartel (although we don't officially learn that this is the 1980's until Act 2).  Dana Hargrove is a young lawyer in the District Atrorneys office seconded to the Financial Crimes division, primarily, she believes, because she has a contact - a close friend - in one of the banks receiving a most of the subpoenas.Kemanis paints Dana's world very well, and the description of the way mules are used to launder the money rings true.In her work for the FC division Dana discovers that family may be involved in laundering cartel money, and this drives the bulk of the story. The reader suspects the goings on long before Dana twigs, which is a little unbelievable as she is written as an intelligent lawyer. I would have expected her to catch on a lot faster.Minimal use of her intelligence (and, dare I say it, pluck) is a thread that runs through this book. Unfortunately, Dana is shown to be less or a driver of the resolution and more of a passenger. With her name in the title I would expect her, as the hero, to be driving the resolution harder. And it's frustrating because as written, there's no reason why she can't.This isn't a bad book, though. Kemanis builds a very convincing world.  I look forward to reading another Dana Hargrove mystery where Dana gets to do more.  Maybe a promotion within the Funancial Crimes division is in order?