CRIMINAL KINGDOM

Debut author Gold presents a crime thriller about a man who goes on a deep-undercover mission in prison.

New YorkerJoe Glass is one tough customer. He was the sole survivor of a brutal military mission that went awry 10 years ago in the Carpathian Mountains, and now works for a powerful U.S. government organization that’s completely off the radar. Joe’s latest mission is not one for the faint of heart, as it involves a new, highly addictive drug called Laser that’s recently hit the streets. Laser addicts anyone who tries it; in the words of one character,the drug “Makes crack look like candy.” A major shipment of the drug will be arriving in the city soon, due to the machinations of a ruthless, film-buff criminal named Silas Brown. Joe’s mission is to get in Silas’ good graces and figure out how to stop the shipment. How does one become the confidant of a crime lord? By getting thrown in jail, it turns out. Joe joins up with a bank-robbing gang in order to get sent to Stone Island, a notorious prison where inmate Silas is treated like a king. Once there, he aims to earn the monstrous man’s respect—but he just might die trying. Gold puts his undercover protagonist in a notably precarious position, where he not only has to join up with bad guys, but also survive in an institution that’s meant to punish said guys. It’s a world of shivs and gang wars, and it’s one that occasionally features decapitations. This all has the effect of keeping the narrative stakes high, although the villains themselves are not the most multifaceted characters; Silas Brown has an intriguing penchant for cinema, but his underlings are rather flat—they understand guns and poker and not much else. Of course, they’ll still annihilate anyone who crosses them, and the excitement comes in seeing how Joe will survive whatever they throw at him.

A violent, eventful tale of an endangered hero, hampered somewhat by lackluster enemies.