"Risk Management" Book Summary
Larry works on his profile on an internet dating site, juggling two potential dates Terri, and Anne, when he gets a call from a woman June who tells him her sister, Darlene, Larry’s former lover, was shot and is in critical condition in a hospital in Chicago. June convinces Larry to get her in to see Darlene, who’s wanted on a Federal warrant for her part in a huge real estate fraud in Texas. While they’re visiting her, Darlene goes into convulsions and dies.
An anonymous envelope left at Birdie’s office contains a thumb drive, a typewritten note and a password pointing them to a secure transfer website. The downloaded files relate to land purchased by anonymous shell companies. Birdie determines they are all part of Chicago Metropolitan Agency For Planning (MCAP) 2050 Plan to expand the existing water infrastructure. Birdie sees a conspiracy, which her colleagues dismiss.
Larry has doubts about June, especially after a fling he had with her after the hospital visit. He tries to avoid her, but she tracks him down. She pleads with him to help her get into Darlene’s apartment to retrieve the family papers. Against his better judgment, he gets them access. When they get into the apartment, June turns it upside down. Larry finds Darlene’s cellphone, which he hides from June. Later, June skips town.
Birdie ends up outside of Baton Rouge with Darius “Bud” Fontenot, a gun rights activist. An army vet and an expert in web encryption, he’s openly hostile, but tells Birdie he created the website for his nephew Ildy, who lives in Chicago. He reveals Ildy is Trans, brilliant and the only member of his family worth anything.
Larry learns Darlene didn’t die of gunshot wounds, but a heart attack caused by insulin poisoning. The only people in the hospital room were June and Larry. Larry becomes a suspect in Darlene’s murder.
Larry shows up for his online date with ‘Anne’ and is surprised to learn she’s known as Birdie. Birdie and Larry connect but Larry withholds information. Birdie tells him she’s good with puzzles and Larry challenges her to unlock Darlene’s phone. After several tries, Birdie opens the phone. Larry is astounded. They exchange numbers and agree to another date soon.
Birdie is surprised to learn Derek Johnson, the lead city engineer on Plan 2050, is dead, having hanged himself a few days earlier. After some prodding, Birdie also learns Derek had problems with gambling, alcohol and had even been in the local news.
Ildy is the victim of a horrific murder. On the wall painted in his blood are words that point to the murder being motivated by his being trans.
With the password, Larry searches Darlene’s phone, and aside from explicit selfies, finds an image of a bank statement in a foreign language with a telephone number at the bottom. He eventually learns the account holds over fourteen million dollars in Indian gold bonds. He also finds pictures of himself with Darlene and erases them.
Birdie and Larry’s baseball date ends in disaster, and she tells him to leave.
When Birdie’s boss Amanda disappears, Birdie goes to Amanda’s apartment, and it’s clear she hasn’t been there in days. Further links develop between the anonymous companies and Derek Johnson, the city engineer who hanged himself. Birdie arranges to meet with Kip Harding the senior partner with the private consulting engineers on the project.
Birdie wrestles with her feelings about Larry and worries she’s emotionally broken. She hearkens back to when she as a witness to a horrible accident that killed her mother. She considers calling Larry several times, but has second thoughts.
Larry comes clean with his lawyer Tony about Darlene’s phone, but withholds information about the Indian bank account. Tony tells him to hide the phone, which is at the center of the Federal marshal’s hunt for her. June calls Larry and tells him she knows he has the phone, and she knows what’s on it. She tells him to give her the cell or she’ll make him pay. Larry goes to great lengths to hide the phone from the cell tower and sets up a plan to send it to June.
Larry calls Marty Crockett, a former client, and arranges for Marty to deliver the phone to June at the Alibates Quarries, a desolate spot in the panhandle desert. Marty isn’t happy because of bad blood with a former partner, but agrees to it anyway.
As Birdie researches Ildy, she’s convinced he wasn’t murdered became he was Trans. She gets scared, considers calling Larry but hires a bodyguard instead. Amanda’s body is found floating in a construction site in Chicago. The police share their belief Amanda may be a victim of a serial killer, one of several bodies recently found near the Chicago River. They share a clue which is known only to the killer.
After Amanda turns up murdered, Birdie finally reaches out to Larry. Birdie urges Larry to ‘do the right thing’ with the money in the account. Larry urges Birdie to be careful and involve the Illinois State Police. In a surprising and shocking climax, they both are forced to fight for their lives and their future.
Risk Management is a taut, literary, fast-paced thriller by the author of The Dead Bell. Winslow ably explores the motivations of the characters, weaving an engrossing narrative. Kirkus Reviews in listing The Dead Bell as one of its Best Indy Books of 2022 called it a “fabulous well-researched whodunit”.