HOLLYWOOD HUSTLE

A Hollywood action star finds he can’t just shoot his way out of the situation when his daughter is kidnapped.

Winston Greene is usually delighted to see his 6-year-old granddaughter, Amy. Not this morning. He’s sound asleep when the kid pokes him awake. He barely has time to wonder how she got to his house before she says, “He told me to get you.” He turns out to be a skinny young stranger leaning on a muscle car in Win’s driveway, and his message is that Clare, Win’s daughter and Amy’s mom, has been kidnapped. Win, an actor who’s built a career on playing tough guys, knows his urge to beat up or shoot someone won’t solve anything in real life. It’s his fame—he’s not top of the box office, but solid, especially for an actor who’s almost 60—that has drawn the kidnappers. In exchange for Clare, they want all his Hollywood money. Problem is, he doesn’t have it anymore. His relationship with Clare has long been fraught: Through much of her childhood, he was an alcoholic, and after his beloved wife died, he got worse—but then better. By that time, however, Clare had grown up, become an addict herself, and married another one. Win’s objections to the squalid conditions in which they’re raising Amy have no bearing on his desperate desire to recover his daughter. Since the kidnappers warned him not to go to the cops, he turns to two close friends: Teddy Beauregard, a disgraced LA cop turned private eye, and Grover Washington, a legendary stuntman. As they race to protect Amy, find out who has Clare, and scrape together enough cash to free her, bodies pile up. The pacing lags occasionally, and the plot is fairly predictable. But Win is a likable protagonist, self-deprecating and funny, and Lindstrom, who’s had a long career as an actor, brings authenticity to the novel.

You can probably guess the Hollywood ending, but an engaging protagonist makes this thriller a fun ride.