Book Review: The Collectors

Note: I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author’s publicist.

Spoilers!

In a different life, I would love to have been a lawyer. Part of it is the fun of research, even down to the minutia (because somewhere in the minutia could be the key to unlocking justice!), as well as synthesizing that research, but of course, the other part is rendering justice for the overlooked, the downtrodden, the voiceless. As such, I’m all in when it comes to legal thrillers, even down to that, yes, minutia of art theft and insurance civil lawsuits. Richard A. Danzig’s 2025 book, The Collectors, is the third in his Chance Cormac legal thriller series. And it involves art theft and insurance civil lawsuits, and so much more. Chance is someone, much to the chagrin of one of his Russian antagonists, who sees the law — right and wrong — as black and white. In the age of Trump (which Danzig doesn’t necessarily shy away from Cormac’s philosophical pontificating therein), Chance finds himself more confounded by his chosen profession. Danzig worked hard to make the reader care about Chase, his love interest and legal assistant, Sally (and her daughter, Melody), Chase’s new investigator known as Justice, and Chase’s former legal aides and investigators, two Navy SEALs, Damian and J.R. And I mean, Chase has a dog named Tort, which is just the greatest. Whether it’s the art shenanigans that Chase and Justice are investigating or the murder mess Damien and J.R. are ensnared in in Costa Rica, Danzig’s book flew by with enough flare and heart to make it compelling.

As mentioned, Chase’s latest case concerns the seemingly stolen and/or forged art of German painter, Gerhard Richter, whose abstract brushstroke style of art seems to have inspired Danzig’s own book cover, Red Sky, which he did himself. Billionaire Warren and his assistant, Christine, who handles the art investments, want Chase to determine how the theft and forgery happened and recoup their loses via legal wrangling with their insurance company. Christine was suspect from the start, with how evasive and aggressive she seemed with Chase — her attorney! Turns out, Warren orchestrated a whole scheme to forge the paintings after legitimately purchasing them to make two-times the amount he paid for the paintings via the insurance payout (thanks to Chase) and taxes. Chase wises to this, and while he can’t legally entrap his own client, he can entrap Warren if an NYPD fraud detective happens to be listening nearby. That’s where Chase’s so-called “black-and-white” thinking comes into play. All of that was quite cleverly set-up by Danzig.

Meanwhile, in Costa Rica, where Damian and JR have set up shop, literally at a surf shop, as expats, they become pawns in a game they didn’t know they were involved in with Dr. Renata, a renowned transplant surgeon, who worked his way up from a simple bodega his parents owned to his current lot in life. Danzig presents a compelling villain origin story for Dr. Renata. His father needed a heart transplant and when the donor heart was in transit, it was diverted to save the President of Argentina’s father-in-law [one point of order here on the father-in-law’s case as described: while I do not have a legal background, I am in the organ and transplant field, and there is no dialysis involved for those awaiting a life-saving heart transplant]. After Dr. Renata’s father died on the operating table, he dedicated his life to essentially creating a robust black market for the procurement and sale of organs. Again, as someone in the field, oof. That obviously strikes at the heart of my black-and-white thinking. Nonetheless, that’s where our Navy SEALs come into play. Damian was out jogging when he came across a dead surfer. That surfer’s kidneys had been removed when he tried to abscond with Dr. Renata’s money without donating his kidney. A corrupt local cop, working with Dr. Renata’s henchman, frames Damian for the slaying as a convenient way to cover up their black market in organs. Damian and JR are arrested for murder and sent to a notorious prison in Costa Rica, where again, Dr. Renata’s henchman ensures the two Navy SEALs are roughed up, and in JR’s case, killed. That was shocking, especially how quickly it all went to hell! This was long before Chance ever got involved.

Fortunately, there is some modicum of justice in Costa Rica in the forms of a relentless lawyer, a dogged columnist, and an unflappable judge. Through those three people, and eventually bringing Chance and Justice to Costa Rica, they are able to rescue Damian and bring JR’s body home for a proper burial. Not before, I should note, Justice enacts, well, his own form of justice. In trying to track down the machinations of Dr. Renata’s operation, he saves a surfer who was helping him by shooting one of the gang members dead, and then, when he didn’t have to, executing a second one. Later, when Dr. Renata, his henchman, and the notorious prison’s warden are celebrating seemingly getting away with their coverup, a drone kills them all. Then, after considering it, the drone operators kill Dr. Renata’s innocent wife because she was a witness. What?! I thought those two decisions were a bit dicey and cut across the black-and-white Chance philosophy he tried to adhere to. Dr. Renata should have faced true justice inasmuch as it existed in Costa Rica versus being summarily executed.

All of that said, again, I would have been perfectly satisfied if the entire book was about the Richter paintings. That was fascinating to this nerd! But the second plot with Dr. Renata and the black market for organs proved as arresting, if in a far more horrifying way. And as to that point about Chance having this steadfast black-and-white thinking, he actually ends the book more confused than ever about his future, particularly owing to Sally’s insistence upon marrying James, who was Melody’s sperm donor that came into her life later (and now has cancer and is going to die, it was a major subplot!), much to Chance’s sad chagrin. It’ll be interesting to see where Danzig takes Chance next! I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Chance and his team of supporting characters.