Book Review: Organize or Die

Organize or Die

A Novel by Laura McClure

By the title, you might believe this fast-moving mystery had something to do with unions. (you’d be right, and we’ll get back to that) But it’s more about people.
How boring would we be if we were all perfect and simple?…not to worry. Not in this novel by Laura McClure.

Every workplace has them. People who are Salt of the Earth, heroes in waiting. Some others who are flakey or shaky. Some do right or wrong for their own mysterious reasons, and some few are touched with nobility.
Among them might be a hot head doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. Maybe he hates injustice, or maybe he’s just on a power trip. Maybe if he’s drunk and mad enough, he’ll kill.
Somebody killed Victoria, the high-toned white-glove union organizer come down from the Halls of Ivy to help the working folks at a major printing company gone wrong -and maybe mob-connected. Victoria was effective, headstrong and beautiful. Any or all of those qualities can bring trouble. The list of suspects is long, the clues few. It could have been a burglar, but that would be too perfect.

Enter our heroine Ruth Ryan, Victoria’s former and less elegant collaborator, buttonholed by the union because they have no one else (now there’s a vote of confidence).
No perfection here either. Ruth dabbles in self-demolition, boozes way too much, and longs for a guy who doesn’t care enough to leave his indifferent wife but might make the jump for a much younger hottie. He seems to regard our girl as a good sport, a useful resource for his work, and an occasional dropbox for spare sperm. They have history, but she deserves so much better. It’s not like she doesn’t have options.

Union busters, whether they be thugs or lawyers, have everything going for them: power, influence, intimidation, and money. Union organizers have themselves, their guts, and quixotic determination.
The people on the shop floor have Ruth, and she has less than three weeks to get the job done. Maybe less, if she meets Victoria’s killer.
That’s one thing that seems inevitable.

Available on-line

–B.Yund