The list

The tepid latest standalone from bestseller Berry (after The Atlas Maneuver) is a paint-by-numbers legal thriller. Attorney Brent Walker has returned to Concord, Ga., to work as assistant general counsel for Southern Republic, the paper manufacturer where his late father worked as a machinist. What Walker doesn't know is that Southern Republic's three partners have spent years limiting expenses by hiring hit men to assassinate employees who run up sizable medical expenses on the company's insurance policies--and Walker's father was one such victim. Things take a turn when Hank Reed, head of the union representing most Southern Republic workers, stumbles across a coded document while preparing for a round of labor negotiations. He brings the code to Walker, who cracks it, revealing the Social Security numbers of the company's victims and setting him on a path to unraveling the scheme with help from one of Southern Republic's guilt-ridden partners. Far-fetched contrivances and a lack of surprises mar this from the get-go. Even the author's devoted fans are likely to find this rough going. Agent: Simon Lipskar, Writers House. (July)

A paper mill in Georgia uses murder to buoy its bottom line. Killers hunt down and kill a retiree while he's peacefully fishing. No one suspects foul play, as the poor man apparently hit his head on a low branch and drowned. Attorney Brent Walker is hired to be assistant general counsel for the Southern Republic Pulp and Paper Company, where his longtime friend Hank Reed is a union official. They are not privy to the company's biggest secret, and this story is about what they learn and what they do about it. A small cabal at the top of the company has a creative approach to cost-saving: They've created something called the Priority program, which identifies and eliminates expensive employees and retirees. Critically for the plot, the company is self-insured. So how can it stay profitable if it must pay out big claims for, say, cancer or Alzheimer's patients? Maybe an employee stays healthy but has a child with a lifelong debilitating illness. The solution for this company lies in the untimely deaths of these troublesome claimants. "Terminal care was particularly expensive. An almost bottomless pit." Top management has a long-standing arrangement with a group of professionals who expertly make deaths look natural. There is a mysterious list of nine-digit numbers, unaccompanied by any explanation. The obvious guess is that they are Social Security numbers, which may or may not be what they are. Walker and Reed intend to learn their significance, and their sleuthing could end up with--well, people dying. In fact, the killings become much less subtle as the action reaches a crescendo. Meanwhile, the bad guys are acutely aware of their culpability--if anyone finds a certain set of secret folders, there may be "enough evidence to indict us all for mass murder." One of their hired killers is dying from cancer and wishes to partially repent, though he knows "his soul was beyond saving, his eternal fate sealed." But maybe he can keep Priorities off future lists. The author is an attorney familiar with Georgia's paper industry, so he's clearly well suited to the topic, and readers will recognize the similarities to John Grisham. Plenty of intrigue and action for crime fans. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.