THE CON MAN’S DAUGHTER

A dense departure from Dee’s Anthony Ryan/Joe Gregory series (Little Boy Blue, 1996, etc.).

Years after former NYPD cop Eddie Dunne thought he’d turned his life around, the kidnapping of his 35-year-old daughter turns back the clock again. Even granting the prevailing theory of ex-colleagues from torch-carrying Det. Babsie Panko to hotshot Det. Matty Boland—that his nurse daughter Kate was snatched from his home by thieves who didn’t expect to find anybody there—why was someone turning out his drawers in the first place? Whatever they were looking for must be tied into the years he put in as mafiya chief Anatoly Lukin’s courier/bodyguard/nursemaid since he was thrown off the job by his refusal to testify against his partner, Paul Caruso, whose family had serious connections to a more familiar mob. Figuring the power behind the snatch must be Lukin’s archenemy, Moscow gangster Yuri Borodenko, Eddie throws every ounce of his considerable skill, courage, and determination into digging up leads on Borodenko’s stateside underlings, even though he knows they’re so ruthless they’ll kill their accomplices to keep them quiet and so tough they’ll take a bullet rather than talk themselves. With every step forward, he finds himself pulled back more deeply into his own quicksand past till the last stunning surprise.

Thriller fans who like their action down and dirty and their heroes thoughtful and flawed will welcome talented Dee’s latest.