Feathered Quill Book Reviews

 #Bookreview of The Manipulator

By: Dan Buzzetta

Publication Date: August 19, 2025

Publisher: Severn River

ISBN: 978-1648756337

Reviewed by: Diana Coyle

Review Date: October 5, 2025

Thomas Berte is a hard-working lawyer working at the prestigious law firm Balatoni, Cartel & Colin in Manhattan in The Manipulator by Dan Buzzetta.

Thomas knows he has to put in his time in order to move up the corporate ladder to become partner, something he’s wanted since he was hired by the firm. But little does he know that the only surviving owner of the firm has some other plans for him. Ignatius Balatoni has been asked by a close friend, Attorney General Bradley Mitchelson and former partner at BC&C, if he knows of someone within the firm that could fill the Executive Deputy Attorney General position that will be vacant soon in his office. Ignatius undoubtedly knows that Tom is the perfect candidate for the position. He discusses the proposition with Tom soon after and things start moving very quickly from setting up a formal interview to actually being offered the position. Tom and his wife, Brooke, are ecstatic over how quickly things are progressing and how fast their move to Washington, D.C. is approaching.

As Tom begins acclimating to the new position and starts working on a top secret investigation, the reality of this new position starts to take a bit of a toll on him. The information he starts learning from his team is beyond staggering. The investigation is following none other than crime boss Cosimo “Nino” Benedetto, and his sophisticated global mafia group, The Syndicate. One piece of information specifically makes Tom realize that the people that he worked for at BC&C are not the people he thought they were. What does Tom find out about some of the partners at BC&C? What happens to Tom that has his and his wife’s lives spiraling out of control?

When Tom started finding out some very volatile information about not only Nino, but also the partners at BC&C, his perfect world immediately started crashing down around him. The very people he had warm feelings for now had him questioning everything he felt and thought about them. What was the information he found out about Nino and his connection to the BC&C law firm? Could this information even be legitimately real? What did this mean for the surviving owner, Ignatius Balatoni? He knew he had to get down to the bottom of things before taking criminal action against anyone. Little did he know that what was happening during this investigation would turn his life into living hell for him and his wife, Brooke.

This legal thriller was one that this reviewer couldn’t put it down. The buildup of Tom’s story within the first few pages is like the start of a slow roller coaster ride in which you build your momentum reaching the first peak on the ride. Once at the peak, you plummet down at full speed, holding on for dear life. Dan Buzzetta did just that for this reader. He did the slow ascent up the roller coaster and once at the top, his allows his readers plummet right into a fast-paced novel that will have its readers eagerly turning the pages to see what happens to Tom and Brooke.

Dan Buzzetta has been an attorney for three decades. He started writing The Manipulator during the summer of his first year of law school. Although aiming to complete the story after graduating law school, life had other plans for him. It was during the COVID pandemic that Dan decided to dust off the chapters he had written and try fulfilling his dream at becoming a published author.

Quill says: The Manipulator by Dan Buzzetta is one legal thriller that you will not be able to put down once you start reading. It is so intense, you believe you are right at the center of this criminal investigation as one of Tom’s team members. It has intrigue, well-crafted characters, and a storyline that could be made into a motion picture. It comes highly recommended!