William Diehl Books In Order

Publication Order of Martin Vail Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

William Diehl was an American photojournalist and a bestselling author of photojournalism, mystery and thriller novels. William was 50 years old and an already successful photojournalist when he began his writing career. His debut novel was Sharky’s Machine. The book was adapted into a 1981 thriller drama movie by same name directed by Burt Reynolds shot on his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. Following the positive acclaim and the success of his first novel, Diehl moved to St. Simon’s Island in the early 80’s where he resided for the next one and half decade before relocating to Atlanta area. While at St. Simons, Diehl wrote eight novels, such as Primal Fear- which was adapted into a film by the same title (Primal Fear) featuring Edward Norton and Richard Gere. The author died at Emory University Hospital on November 24th, 2006 and at the time of death, he was a resident of Woodstock, Georgia working on his 10th novel.

Sharky’s Machine

Senator Donald Hotchins is a man full of ambitions. He is about to push through to the highest position in the world. Hotchins is a candidate for the presidency of the United States. He cannot suspect that the woman he loves and the man whose money he depends on secrets that can be broken in one go.
Domino Brittian, Hotchins’ beautiful mistress, has a clandestine secondary function as the most exclusive call girl, whose customers are rude blackmailed.
Victor Delarosa, international toy magnate and secret lender of Hotchins, goes to great lengths to disguise his dark past.

For Sharky, detective, who is constantly in conflict with the police establishment because of his obstinate nature, it seems a routine task initially. Until he has heard the audio tapes, on which Domino by telephone satisfies the erotic wishes of her expensive customers. His work becomes an obsession. Sharky gets tangled up and down in Domino’s life-threatening web.

If you fancy Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry, then you will likely find comfort reading Sharky’s Machine, a novel that focuses on a cop named Sharky who is fast enough to forgo all the police procedures and pump some nice deserved crude justice into criminals.
The narrative is set in Atlanta 1975 with some short chapters of the novel set in Italy 1944 and Hong Kong 1959 that eventually tie into the main story. First published in 1978, the book explores the tech and the people who lived during that era of the 20th century.

The characters are beautifully woven, entertaining and at the same time believable. The good guys are really good, and the bad guys are also extremely evil. This is the kind of novel that keeps the readers ever-increasing suspense and builds up a colorful and fiery climax that would otherwise be too expensive for a horror movie. There is an inclusion of explicit sex scenes, and lots of violence but both handled very well by the author. One of the best things you will love about the novel is the idea of every real people, people that readers can relate living upon the conspiracy of movers and shakers.

Like a number of thriller novels written during the 70’s such as The Boys from Brazil and Marathon Man, Sharky’s Machine has its roots in World War II.It’s not surprising that the author who lived at that time would use major events of their lives as a springboard for their captivating tales of intrigue.

Show of Evil

A few meters next to the cradle the disfigured body of Linda Balfout is formless against the wall. Her mouth is wide open, her broken eyes stare blankly into the distance, and she lies in a slowly growing pool of blood “.

When the police find Linda Balfour’s horribly maimed body, Martin Vail, the Chicago attorney, feels his neck hairs stand on end. Linda’s head had been scribbled with some letters using blood. Ten years ago Martin saw the same signs – on the body of the murdered archbishop of Chicago. As a young, brilliant lawyer, Martin saved Aaron Stampler, the schizophrenic prime suspect in the murder case, from the electric chair. Since then, Aaron sits in a heavily guarded cell, without any contact with the outside world.

Then another corpse is found. Martin is convinced that the brilliant Aaron has something to do with the horrendous murders. Aaron fooled Martin ten years ago – now he will make sure that the beast is made harmless for good.

Eureka

In New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist William Diehl’s intriguing, accomplished novel, the dark history of America’s most picturesque states lies in this illusory peaceful are, several miles North of Los Angeles. It is a lawless place where the young, rugged Thomas Culhane escaped to fight the First World War. Now it is a place where two decades later, detective Zeke Bannon investigates the death that seems a terrible accident.

The year is 1941 when Verna Wilensky is electrocuted in her bathtub leaving behind a middle-class life but with no survivors and a bank account packed with millions of dollars. Mysterious checks have regularly come to her for more than 20 decades, most of these checks drawn from a bank based in San Pietro, a town formerly known as Eureka.

Eureka was once a town that used to be a bootleggers haven and also a gangster dream. Now the town has been rebuilt, and its where sheriff Thomas is launching a big to be the next governor. But something lethal might threaten his ambitions, and as Bannon investigates deeper into Wilensky death, he unravels a decades-old secret that begins in a shootout, then turns into a bloodbath and could end up within the upper ranks of California’s elite forever changing the fate of a state.

Complex in its links between the past and the present but rich in historical details, and filled with nonstop action are the hallmarks of this great narrative. Eureka is an excellent achievement of suspense and beautiful storytelling and William Dehl’s most brilliant novel yet. The mystery itself is excellent, and the characters are well carefully woven and uniquely presented.