It’s not often that vicious baddies fall in love with the natural beauties of Eastern Long Island, but in Michael Ledwidge’s 23rd thriller, No Safe Place, a psychopath by the name of Shaw, a professional hit man, is eager to make a lot of money fast so he can buy a cottage in Montauk. “All that water and sky and space. . . pulled at something deep within him he couldn’t even begin to name.” He’ll do anything, for anyone, the more savage, the better. He has no conscience or loyalty, even going against the wishes of his boss, the corrupt and powerful hedge fund billionaire Frank Stone, who buys off town politicos and police and has set up a prestigious college in a lovely rural Connecticut town as a cover for his nefarious activities. Shaw’s got ego, though, and when he comes up against the protagonist-hero of No Safe Place, Mike Gannon, a former Navy SEAL and former New York City cop, the blood-and-gore narrative takes an even more brutal turn, moving from violence in historical fictional Beckford, Connecticut to a dramatic denouement in the waters off Montauk.
The story begins with a Prologue that seems to herald a beach read - girls and guys hanging out in the new college hot spot-- a cozy 100-year-old barn “low lit at night and warm with the bodies of young people buzzing before the music got going.” Olivia Ramos is there, the rare scholarship student, waiting for her BFF Naomi, rich, rich, rich. The town is a historic charmer, founded by a robber baron who lived in a Gothic mansion on the National Register of Historic Places, now the home of Beckford College president, Martin Cushing, a toady of criminal Frank Stone. Stepping outside the barn for air, Olivia sees a huge black Rolls- Royce pull up to the president’s house. Curious, she follows, with her camera. And is not seen again. The police say she OD’d on Fentynal. Her poor parents in the Bronx are devastated.
Although the case is closed, her disbelieving father, refusing buy-off by-off money, asks a New York City investigator to look into what happened. Enter Colleen Doherty, who winds up in Beckford where – surprise of surprises -- she sees her old childhood friend who adored her, Mike Gannon. He’s there on holiday, pursuing his passion for trout fishing. Colleen is clearly being given the run around by college personnel and police. Something is amiss. Would Mike assist?
It’s too bad that Ledwidge, who knows how to deliver and sustain fast-paced, short-chapter suspense isn’t interested in character because psychopath Shaw gets a lot of notice though no psychological exploration. Ledwidge uses multiple perspectives here. Even Good Guy Mike never comes alive. Though retired from both the SEALs and the police, he’s still at heart a military man, taught “to still the fear within me,…how to plan, to pick my moment. . . how to penetrate into the most impenetrable wall with one single focus, one single mission.” How can Mike and Colleen and the president’s wife escape Shaw’s clever machinations? The town is small, everyone is bought. “There was nowhere to hide, no safe place” (hello title).” There’s also no great prose here, as when Mike tells Colleen that it’s not he who’s gone crazy with his strategies, but “the world.”
Ledwidge’s talent, though, is getting us to keep reading. And for a book that started out as though it might be romantic fiction, No Safe Place will appeal to readers, including women, many of whom serve in the military impressed by the author’s knowledge of military hardware and knowledge of RDX, a synthetic chemical compound widely used for demolition. For all its literary shortcomings, No Safe Place is an explosive, diverting novel.
