DEADLOCK

A righteous soldier of fortune risks all to protect a pair of young women in distress.

A nail-biting prologue introduces 35-year-old Desmond Aloysius Limerick, who’s flying a secret mission to Azerbaijan among an international assortment of ruthless characters. Two years later, Dez, back home in Malibu, gets a distress call from Raziah Swann in Portland. Raziah’s sister Laleh, a reporter, has been hospitalized after a brutal attack. If being some sort of mercenary is Dez’s vocation, music is his avocation, and he befriended the awesomely talented Raziah, a half-Black American and half-Iranian singer, while they were both performing in clubs. The seriousness of the attack is confirmed when Dez takes out a pair of thugs with designs on Laleh during his visit to the hospital. Mysteriously, this encounter alerts both the U.S. Marshals Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration, who swing into action. Part of the reason could be that Laleh has been probing Clockjack Solutions, an influential Oregon corporation. Just as Dez is both mercenary and shamus, Byrne’s novel keeps one foot planted in the international thriller genre and the other in traditional detective fiction, with his generally relaxed, laconic style leaning to the latter. Easygoing Dez also has a streak of 007, rolling in the sheets with both Veronika Tsygan, who owns the Portland club Deep Dive, and Petra Alexandris, whom he rescued in his debut caper. Short, punchy chapters mark frequent changes of location and a brisk pace, as the plot pings all over the globe. Few readers will be surprised when key players from the prologue return.

A busy hybrid thriller with a retro flavor.