First edition signed as new

My least favorite of the series, so far. In this one, Stone tries to take the moral high ground by coming to the rescue of an orphaned waif who is also a cold-blooded assassin bent on revenge. Why does Stone side with her? Because he doesn’t like the organization hunting for her; he sees them as cold-blooded for trying to find her after a series of revenge murders that take their colleagues. Stone’s attempt to be morally superior falls flat. He is overly critical of professionals who dedicated their lives to serving their government while he excuses and supports the assassin.

The story was fine. A decent Stone Barrington tale. The political tenor just struck me wrong. ( )

Stone gets involved with an MI-5 agent, who is one of several targets for a Middle Eastern assassin seeking revenge for the execuion of her parents. He and Dino try to prevent carnage and negotiate a truce, which fails due to a misplaced fax. ( )

Now I have to read the whole Stone Barrington series. ( )

This was in a box of books a local friend gave to me to read and then pass on to others. I've not read any other novels in this series--so it was a bit confusing since I would assume readers of the series know what Elaine's is while I did not.

The title "Dirty Work" in part refers to the fact that Stone Barrington does work for another law firm when they don't want to do it or don't want to get their hands dirty doing it. Dirty could also refer to all the killing that goes on in this novel (both from the supposed good guys and the supposed bad guys).

WARNING: SPOILERS MAY LIE AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION

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Stone is contracted to get photos of a married man cheating with his masseuse. Stone hires the nephew of a friend who bungles the job, but in the process, he manages to take the only known photo of an international assassin.

This assassin is after a team of Brits who killed her parents when she was a child. Stone's acquaintance Carpenter was one of that team.

What I liked:
-the pacing was decent
-Stone seems like a somewhat ethical guy
-Stone tried to broker a deal

What I didn't like:
-Stone and Carpenter/Felicity sleep together but by the end, they don't even seem to be talking to each other.
-The assassin hooks up with several men and women to further her cause of changing identities and/or killing the people she wants to kill.
-The killing continues because the lady responsible for getting the wire transfers has to have a quickie and loses the paper with the order behind the fax machine where it is not discovered until after the deadline.
-With the assassin being as smart as she is, I have a hard time believing that she wouldn't know that a same day wire transfer needed to be set up prior to 2 PM. That whole part of the plot felt like an author's contrivance to me to get the plot from where it was to where he needed it to go. ( )