SONS OF WAR 3

Dom Salvatore and his A-team of righteous raiders continue their crusade against crime and corruption in Los Angeles after a second civil war.

Undercover officers Andre “Moose” Clarke and Dominic Salvatore, along with Namid Mata, their Mojave guide, are members of an elite LAPD team called The Saints. Five years after the criminal Vega brothers killed Dom’s father, Ronaldo, and likely kidnapped his sister, Monica, the players have changed a bit, but the game is the same. The Moretti crime family—Antonio, Christopher, Vinny, Zachary, et al.—have driven the Vegas temporarily into hiding. Antonio seems as obsessed with destroying the Vegas as Dom is; his plan is to kidnap Mariana López, the “sicario queen” once very tight with the Vegas, to draw them out. As the war between the crime clans plays out, the Saints emerge as guerrillas whose mission is to disrupt, preventing any single group from controlling everything. Smith flirts with unflattering stereotypes that harken back to the 1970s. His propulsive plot is a series of action scenes overlaid with twists and reversals, enemies both within and outside the warring factions surprising each other, and occasionally the reader. At the murky center of the tale, and sometimes setting it apart, is Moose’s brother Ray, a dirty cop who nevertheless has a moral compass. He works for the Morettis but wants to protect his own family, a divided loyalty that leads to many split-second decisions about the lesser of two evils.

A solid action thriller on brand for the prolific Smith.