Son of Fletch

Fletch and long-time girlfriend Carrie are driving back to the farm when they encounter a roadblock.  The deputy explains that there are four escaped prisoners in the area.  In fact, the sheriff wanted to know if he could borrow Fletch's jeep to do some offroad searching.  Stopping well-before the farm, Fletch and Carrie approached the house on foot.  After seeing Carrie safely into a room and arming her with a shotgun, Fletch went back for the jeep.  Upon his arrival, he turned on lights and left the door to his study unlocked.  Soon after, someone arrived.  "Hi, son," Fletch greeted without turning around.

Jack Fletcher Faoni is the child of Crystal Faoni, who appeared in Fletch's Fortune and with whom Fletch had a brief dalliance.  Jack admits to being one of the escaped prisoners and says his crime was attempted murder.  Though the right age and having a strong resemblance to Fletch, Fletch is skeptical.  Jack reveals that his fellow escapees are in the barn and their destination is Alabama.  Mildly curious about this son he never knew he had until today, Fletch plays along but makes sure to have several aces in his pocket should things go sideways.

The escapees are members of The Tribe, a white supremacist organization with dreams of conquering Miami, Florida.  Much of the story covers Fletch's doubts about Jack even being his son.  This is made all the more difficult when Fletch is unable to contact Crystal so she can confirm or deny Jack's story.  However, Jack does know a lot about Fletch.

The villains are only occasionally threatening.  Mostly they are the keystone cops of white supremacy, causing far more trouble for themselves than to others.  Where other Fletch novel's had murders to solve, this one was about confirming whether Jack was Fletch's son or not.  Toward the end of the novel, Jack took over as the main character.

Overall, it started fairly well but the story became less believable as it progressed.  The complete haplessness of The Tribe really diminished most of the tension.  It does make for an interesting follow up to Fletch, Too, in which Fletch met the father he never knew.

Just okay.