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ROBERT CARLTON

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Full Name: Robert Carlton
Series Name: The Washington, D.C. series
Nationality: American
Organization: Justice Department
Occupation Other - Assistant U.S. Attorney General

Creator: J. Russ Briley
Time Span: 2015 - 2017

ABOUT THE SERIES

Robert Carlton is an Assistant U.S. Attorney General.

He is not just a U.S. Attorney - he is an assistant Attorney General, as in the guys who run the Justice Department. As in very high up the food chain in the Cabinet branch that prosecute those that break the laws of the Republic.

He is definitely not a spy - not even close.

When, early on in the first adventure we have of his someone he was meeting worried that maybe he had been followed, he retorted without thought or knowledge, "why would someone be following me?" That is how out of his depth he is as life drops him floundering into a quagmire where government assassins wield a heck of a lot more permanent power than do the lawyers.

I would love to say that Carlton is a good guy fighting the good fight to protect the good people. Well, he pretty much is but this man has major issues when it comes to the being a good guy part. So much so that when he starts getting into trouble and the world seems to press down on him, it is hard to worry too much about his well being.

Case in point, when we are introduced to him, we learn that he wore an expensive and fancy sailing watch not because he sailed but because he "liked the image the watch presented. Like his car and clothes, the watch was a symbol of what he wanted his friends and colleagues to think about him." That sort of status seeking remains.

He is married to Tracie and father of two almost teenage boys but even there his likability is on the low end. He muses at one point that his wife "was too wrapped up in her own sense of entitlement and social ambitions to take on the uphill challenge of changing the boys' attitudes. Robert didn't notice his own lack of proactive attention to the matter."

So Carlton is not a stellar individual. He is, however, someone who gets into very nasty situations with the fate of the nation hanging in the balance and when push turns to shove, he steps up. That is important.

BOOKS

Number of Books:2
First Appearance:2015
Last Appearance:2017

1 One Man Two Votes One Man Two Votes
Written by J. Russ Briley
Copyright: 2015

Robert Carlton knows something a lot of people do not want told and these people have infiltrated every agency and bureau and department Washington has to offer. He is now a target and the longer he survives, the greater risk his friends and family get into.
buy from Amazon

2 Two Dirty For D.C. Two Dirty For D.C.
Written by J. Russ Briley
Copyright: 2017

The plan is to attack America's bread basket with five Soviet grain irradiators poisoning the food supply. A CIA agent had learned of the plot but died before he could reveal it. Now it turns out that Robert Carlton has learned that he inadvertently helped the plan along and must find a way to correct things and stop the mayhem.
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MY COMMENTS

This is a spy series in that there are a whole lot of spy stuff going on. It is also a legal drama because there is a ton of that sort of thing as well. And a murder mystery of sorts or more accurately detective series.

A lot of different elements to this series makes it sort of fit in the compendium and sort of not but there is definitely enough to make it belong.

It is not hard to tell from my write-up above that I do not think too much of the man in general. I think he is quite a jerk, at least when we first get to know him. After a while he seems to change but by then my impression of him has been nailed down.

About the WRITING, though, I have a much better attitude. Well crafted and very well thought out with characters that, even if they are not likable, are definitely well presented and believable.

This is good storytelling from a good writer and I have no doubt he will only get better.

GRADE

My Grade: B+

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Disclaimer
SpyGuysAndGals is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, and links with the Buy from Amazon button are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.