Book Review: Six Degrees of Corruption — The Fleecing of a City
The story of Methuen whether we like it or not.
Written by: Dan Shibilia InsideMetheun@gmail.com
I read Six Degrees of Corruption not as a casual observer, but as a voter and resident who was here while much of this was unraveling — new to the city at the time, raising two young kids, and trying to understand what kind of place we had just moved into. I went into this book anxious, in the best way. I knew how much work had gone into it, and I expected it to be thorough. What I didn’t expect was how validating it would feel — or how uncomfortable that validation would be.
Six Degrees of Corruption — The Fleecing of a City
By L.P. Smith
This book doesn’t uncover something new so much as it confirms what many residents have quietly believed for years: that Methuen politics has been far too willing to serve itself, protect its own, and reward friends — often at the public’s expense. Page after page, Smith lays out a factual, deeply researched account of how power operated here, how it stayed entrenched, and how little stood in its way. It’s written in a tone that’s both dark and cynical, but never reckless. The facts do the heavy lifting.
As someone who lives here, the hardest part of reading this book isn’t the revelations themselves — it’s recognizing how many of the names, networks, and power structures are still very much with us. That makes the entire thing painful in a way that’s hard to explain to outsiders. This isn’t ancient history. This case is still unfolding in the courts. The consequences are still unresolved. And the culture that allowed it to happen doesn’t feel like it’s gone anywhere.
For longtime residents, this book will feel like confirmation. For newer ones, it may come as a shock — the kind that makes you question how all of this could have happened in plain sight. That contrast alone says a lot about Methuen. The longer you’ve been here, the less surprising it becomes — which may be the most damning takeaway of all.
What makes Six Degrees of Corruption especially effective is that it works on three levels at once. It is clearly an investigation, methodical and fact-driven. It reads like a reckoning — a come-to-Jesus moment for a city that’s been pretending not to notice patterns. And it functions as a warning, because much of what it describes doesn’t feel safely locked in the past. If anything, it raises the uncomfortable question of whether we’ve learned anything at all.
There are moments where you’ll laugh — but only in that grim, “I can’t believe my tax dollars paid for this” kind of way. This isn’t a funny book, but it does expose the absurdity that sets in when corruption becomes normalized. And that normalization is the real villain here. Smith shows how much the public tolerated, often because people were afraid — afraid of retaliation, afraid of becoming the next target, afraid of standing alone against an old guard that didn’t seem to face consequences.
This book doesn’t offer redemption arcs or neat resolutions. It’s exposure, plain and simple. And that may frustrate readers looking for justice neatly wrapped up. The reality, as Smith makes clear, is messier — and in some cases, the state has already failed to fully hold people accountable. That, too, is part of the story.
Six Degrees of Corruption should be read by every Methuen resident, and by anyone living in a small city who wants to understand what unchecked power actually looks like over time. It will be hardest for those who were close to the people named — or who prefer the comforting fiction that this was all just a misunderstanding. For everyone else, it forces a question that lingers long after the last page:
Are we actually holding our local leaders accountable — or just waiting for the next version of the same story?
You decide.
Get yourself a copy here: Six Degrees of Corruption on Amazon