CRIES OF THE LOST

Back from the dead after a hit man executed him and his wife (Dead Anyway, 2012), market researcher Arthur Cathcart continues to probe the mystery of her death. And not just probe, but shake, rattle and roll.

Florencia Etxarte may be dead, but her insurance agency lives on, along with the several million dollars she embezzled from it before she and Arthur were shot, her fatally, him not quite. Swimming in ill-gotten gains and enjoying his new romance with blackjack dealer Natsumi Fitzgerald, Arthur still can’t rest till he finds out “why she did the things that got her killed.” A trip to Florencia’s safety deposit box at a Cayman Islands bank discloses a stubbornly undecodable thumb drive but also brings Arthur and Natsumi to the attention of some very dangerous people. In fact, they seem to be objects of interest to two different Basque strongmen, Rodrigo Mariñelarena and Joselito Gorrotxategi, and the FBI, all of whom have very different agendas. Arthur and Natsumi’s hunt for the reasons Florencia got involved with such heavy hitters would be seriously anticlimactic if it weren’t at the same time a scenic tour of possible places to hide from the crossfire. The hero and heroine fight off the advances of a pair of London swingers, rent a series of apartments and villas in Spottsworthy Mews, Lake Como, and sunny Spain, worm their way beneath their enemies’ defenses and ultimately turn them against each other. The nearest fictional analogues are popcorn movies like Mission: Impossible and Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

A high-spirited but ultimately exhausting romp with more exotic locations than the last three James Bond films.