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MOTOWN UNDERGROUND by Doug Allyn

MOTOWN UNDERGROUND

by Doug Allyn

Pub Date: Feb. 22nd, 1993
ISBN: 0-312-08851-5
Publisher: St. Martin's

Grisly second outing for Detroit cop Lupe Garcia (The Cheerio Killings, 1989), who now has to weather a gang-generated explosion, then turn down a request from a friend—cancer-riddled ex-cop Danny Kelly—to kill Danny's brutal partner in the rock club Underground. The next day, though, Richie Z is dead anyway, as is Danny, and the cops—who find tapes of Danny and Lupe's conversation about hiring a hit man—arrest Lupe. Danny's wife, after a spot of mob torture, posts Lupe's bail, while his daughter Erin agrees to represent him. Meanwhile, sadistic mobsters lob fire bombs on the dance hall and lead them all a merry chase, as more die, more are tortured, and the band plays on—thanks to an electronic sequencer (an interesting red herring). Despite an ice-pick holding his wrist to his thigh, Lupe will kill one more goon, then send a pair of toughies into the arms of stakeout cops on the Canadian border, all before the rousing finale. A typical carnage caper—heavy on sex, ammo, showdowns, and car chases.