Mackerel by Moonlight

by William F. Weld

Book Overview

Combining suspense and a hilarious inside view of American politics, "Mackerel by Moonlight" tells the story of a disgraced D.A. who gets bitten by the political bug, and, just as he is on the brink of election to the Senate, takes drastic action against those who would stand in his way.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684853469
• ISBN13: 9780684853468
• Release Date: September 1998
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 238 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Weld-worth reading.

Former Massachusetts Gov. William F. "Bill" Weld combines lawyerly sophistication with street smarts in a highly readable political comedy/thriller that prolongs a death mystery until the very last page. Weld's writing is pithy and punchy. Why he choose to narrate the story through eyes of a smarmy Irish-American lawyer escapes me. Perhaps Weld is needling all those Irish politicians he had to put with during his time in Boston's State House. Maybe Weld is slightly ashamed of being a Yankee (he shouldn't be). Whatever the case -- as protagonist Terry Mullally Jr. might say -- it works. Weld doesn't delve into why his main character or any character would want to give up a mostly honest job with a good salary and private life to take ostensibly less money as a mostly dishonest politician. Perhaps the answer lies in the quest for adoration that Terry and real-life pols found lacking in their upbringings. Maybe part of the answer is Terry's love of people living in the present, making him anxious to keep moving and creating ever new "presents" in seemingly rapid succession. Most people find politicial campaigning undignified yet it goes on, growing ever more outrageous and expensive. There is something sick about this, a sickness in the heart of America. Hopefully, Weld will courageously take on this phenomenon in greater depth in a future work. Weld's ample sense of humor and love of the outdoors are on display. Names have been changed to protect the less-than-innocent -- The Boston Globe newspaper is known as "The Daily Mail," while The Boston Herald is renamed "The Gazette." The Lowell Sun is humorously called "The Moon." The Lawrence Eagle-Tribune is referred to as "The Hawk." The mass media's role in perpetuating the shameful political situation in Massachusetts and elsewhere does not escape Weld's notice. Interestingly, our author refers to New York's major newspapers -- The Daily News, Post, and Times -- by their real names. Wonder what's going on there? Possibly Governor Weld trying to maintain "flexibility."

Mullally.

His last name is Mullally

Great fun to read; not too intense.

Bill Weld uses his vast knowledge of politics and the local Massachusetts culture in writing this fun novel, based on his own life. Terry Mullany, an orphan born in Boston and raised in Brooklyn, runs for political office and falls in love along the way. The book will be enjoyed by all, especially New Englanders or New Yorkers.

A totally satisfying read

Thirtyish Terrence Mullaly is forced to flee from his job as an Assistant DA in the federal prosecutor's office in Brooklyn when some undercover sting turns out to be, at best, questionable. He flees to a private law firm in Boston where to his own shock he is being courted to run against the incumbent DA. He isstunned when he learns that he wins. Though he knows his own past is not clean, Terrence begins to court the power mongers of the city as he begins to think about the senate. Truth becomes an inconvenience that he shatters when it gets in the way of a good sound bite. However, Terrence is going to learn that when your past is as shaky as his is, it can still return to haunt you; in this case very perilously. Senator Jesse Helms, not known as a patron of the arts (at least those sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts) has given the political mystery sub-genre a lift when he kept William F. Weld inside the country. MACKERL BY MIDNIGHT is ! ! an honest account of the political world, mostly viewed through the eyes of a Brooklyn cynic. The crisp and often times witty story line moves forward to the beat that corruption is as American as apple pie. Hopefully, Mr. Weld will continue to stay out of Mexico in order to write more tales starring Mullaly, a realistic figure of the naughty nineties.Harriet Klausner