Laws of Annihilation Book Review

Full disclosure: I was given an ARC of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

There’s one topic that I haven’t discussed before on this website: celebrities writing fiction. They mainly do it to show people that they are talented in other outlets. It’s a make-it or break-it scenario since there are some that are really good at it like Tom Hanks, and there are others that are not so much like Tyra Banks. I read a book recently that thankfully falls into the former category. Laws of Annihilation by Eriq La Salle, who is best known for his role as Dr. Peter Benton on ER, is a great crime fiction story with engaging characters and story.

Laws of Annihilation is the third book in the “Martyr Maker” series. A heat wave is passing through New York City, and tensions between the black and Hasidic communities have increased since a tragic incident left a Black teenager dead. However, when two rabbis are killed in such a gruesome way, it displays the signs of retaliation. Meanwhile, agent Janet Maclin’s dreams of becoming the first female FBI director comes crashing down when she discovers that she has stage IV cancer. Despite that, she is willing to help NYPD detectives Phee Freeman and Quincy Cavanaugh find the killer as more hate crimes push the city to the edge and into an all-out war. As the body count climbs, time is running out for Janet in more ways than one.

I haven’t read the first two books in the “Martyr Maker” series, but from what I understand, the first book Laws of Depravity establishes the three main characters Janet, Phee, and Quincy; what they do; and how they work together. The second title Laws of Wrath emphasizes Phee’s personal struggles, especially while coping with his brother’s death. 

In this case, Laws of Annihilation focuses on Janet and how she wrestles death with her diagnosis and religion since she was raised Jewish even though she’s not that religious. I really liked Janet since she gave me Sandra Bullock-Mariska Hargitary vibes. Much like those actresses, Janet was tough on the outside and felt fine with being a loner, yet she could be vulnerable on the inside and realizes that having people around can be good whether it’s her co-workers/friends Phee and Quincy or her friends-with-benefit/boyfriend Losher.

Many of the other characters are also fully realized. Phee is a devoted Black husband and father, but he can also have a temper and may not always see eye to eye with Janet. He is willing to bend the rules of the law in order to catch the criminals they are after. In addition, in various chapters, two mutilated people – a African-American man named Spider and a Jewish man named Ezra – are locked up in the basement of a slaughterhouse. Both have their prejudices against each other. Spider despises Jewish people because he believes that they were responsible for his teenaged nephew’s death. Ezra, who is the son of a Rebbe, hates Black people since he was attacked by a group of them when he was in college years ago. Over the course of the book, they find ways to understand each other even if they don’t have their fingers or eyes.

Quincy, who is of Irish-Italian descent, is basically the most reasonable and middle ground of the three. He’s not as developed compared to Janet or Phee. However, the epilogue sets up what will probably be another book in the series with the focus being on him.

As I mentioned earlier, I am usually wary of celebrities writing fiction, but Eriq La Salle is a good writer. Along with character development, he is able to allow the plot to unfold in natural ways. Funny enough, many of the chapters would end on some form of a cliff hanger. Both the story and character work hand in hand that allows readers to be invested in both. It felt like the “Armand Gamache” series by Louise Penny, for the people matter as much as the plot.

Since the story involves prejudice and race wars, there are plenty of instances in which characters contemplate what it means to be a certain race like black or Jewish. Specifically, they wonder how they developed their thoughts on others throughout their entire lives. I’ve already mentioned about Janet, Spider, and Ezra, but even the son of a white supremacist business man displays moments of sadness and anger for a Black man that gets lynched at a Fourth of July celebration. What that boy does at the end is astonishing.

I will warn readers that the scenes involving violence can be gritty and gruesome. Like I mentioned earlier, Spider and Ezra are beaten to a pulp, with Spider’s fingers getting cut off, and Ezra being blinded. Even the lynching scene and descriptions of the body afterwards are intentionally horrific. It’s understandable as to why La Salle portrays those deaths and the investigations in that way. In addition to being an actor, he has directed various episodes for shows like Law and Order and CSI: NY. Those dramas would discuss crimes in great detail no matter how uncomfortable it can be for audiences because that reflects the reality of the work. This explains why the majority of the chapters would end on a dramatic cliffhanger.

Laws of Annihilation by Eriq La Salle is not only a great piece of fiction by a celebrity, but also it’s excellent in general. It didn’t matter that I never read the first two books in the series, for I immediately got the sense of who the main characters were and understood why they worked so well together. The plot was also engaging as many of the people in the novel give serious thought as to why their prejudices are what they are. It all feels like a title in the “Armand Gamache” series by Louise Penny, in which the characters, their struggles, and dynamics matter as much as the mystery and the suspense. I would definitely recommend this to those who love crime fiction, titles that deal with prejudice in a multitude of ways, and who enjoy the work of Eriq La Salle both onscreen and offscreen. The book is out, so go check it out if you haven’t already. In the meantime, I’m going to begin reading Laws of Depravity and Laws of Wrath as well as wait patiently for the fourth book to come out.

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