A Scourge of Vipers

By: Bruce DeSilva

Narrated by: Jeff Woodman

To solve Rhode Island's budget crisis, the state's colorful governor, Attila the Nun, wants to legalize sports gambling, but her plan has unexpected consequences. Organized crime, professional sports leagues, and others who have a lot to lose - or gain - if gambling is made legal flood the state with money to buy the votes of state legislators.

Liam Mulligan, investigative reporter for The Providence Dispatch, wants to investigate, but his bottom-feeding corporate bosses at the dying newspaper have no interest in serious reporting. So Mulligan goes rogue, digging into the story on his own time. When a powerful state legislator turns up dead, an out-of-state bag man gets shot, and his cash-stuffed briefcase goes missing, Mulligan finds himself the target of shadowy forces who seek to derail his investigation by destroying his career, his reputation, and perhaps even his life.

Bruce DeSilva's A Scourge of Vipers is at once a suspenseful crime story and a serious exploration of the hypocrisy surrounding sports gambling and the corrupting influence of big money on politics.

©2015 Bruce DeSilva (P)2015 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The versatile Jeff Woodman provides an outstanding narration of this crime story.... This masterful reading will charm most listeners even if the corruption exposed does not." (AudioFile)

Just Three Words: Listen To It

It’s 2:00AM and I’m tired so I’m not going into detail.
I enjoyed the plot, characters, and narration. I recommend reading books one and two first. They could be stand alone but reading in sequence is best.

Another good tale by Bruce DeSilva.

This is a fun read and a great performance. DaSilva has a way of telling a story in an earthy, almost gritty way much like talking to friends in the old neighborhood. The reading is as good as the book and complements itto the point of making the listener feel comfortable with the main character as though hearing the story while sitting across from him in your local pub or favorite diner.

Bruce DeSilva scores again!

Terrific (end?) of a three story series. I really hope there turns out to be more adventures of my favorite newspaper reporter. Go ahead and spend your credit here, you won't be sorry!

Quick fun book.

Loved it. Bruce De Silva books are my go to for light hearted reading. Mulligan is hilarious and smart. Can't wait for next one.

Loved this Fourth Book of the Series . . .

DeSilva has written a very enjoyable series featuring Liam Mulligan, an old-school investigative reporter for a Rhode Island daily paper that has a great legacy, but is slowly dying. (The series in order: Roque Island, Cliff Walk, Providence Rag and A Scourge of Vipers.) This is the final in the series to date -- and in it a 40-something Liam gets into one scrape after the next as he seeks to report the truth about corruption and crime -- but his outlook is always pretty positive as he figures the way out of the troubles. Truth doesn't always prevail and justice isn't always served, but that's what makes these stories so good. They are realistic (for the most part) and believable. Jeff Woodman's narration as always is great -- invoking various NE dialects and drawls and even provides a good rendition of women's voices. Don't start the series with this one -- although it can stand alone. You will find that listening to all four (I just re-listened to the first three in order before starting this one) will add much to your experience.