A war vet–turned–private eye hunts for a fellow vet’s missing wife and a mad bomber to boot.
Rising political star Dalton Strait hires fellow Iraq War veteran Roland Ford to find his missing wife, Natalie. The Straits are a notorious clan of petty criminals, but Dalton’s military record has helped him gain success in the California Assembly. Roland, who narrates in a relaxed first person, also gets a call from FBI Special Agent Mike Lark, asking for an assist in investigating the recent bombing of city hall by the so-called Chaos Committee. Uncertain whether Natalie has been the victim of foul play, Roland talks to people who know the couple. Natalie’s sister Ash Galland describes them as happy. Even if there was marital discord, could Natalie leave her two sons? The complexion of the case changes when Natalie’s abandoned car is discovered, a plea for help scrawled in lipstick on the upholstery. Dalton’s sister, Tola, runs a marijuana business; their hard-drinking granddad Virgil proudly shows Roland his collection of scorpions; neither seems concerned about the disappearance of Natalie, who blew through hundreds of thousands of dollars gambling and shopping. Seeking reelection against a formidable candidate, Dalton faces a further challenge: a controversial bill for veterans aid he’s sponsoring. When more bombings occur, Roland has to ask why. Since he didn’t serve in Iraq with Dalton, he consults Harris Broadman, who did and who presents a far darker picture of Dalton Strait. How do all these jagged pieces fit into a coherent puzzle?
Parker’s incisive character portraits and smooth, confident prose make his latest thriller taut and engaging.Pub Date: Aug. 11, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-525-53767-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2020
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Lindsay Boxer faces a ton of trouble in the latest entry in Patterson and Paetro’s Women’s Murder Club series.
Senior crime reporter Cindy Thomas is writing a biography of Evan Burke, a notorious serial killer who sits in solitary confinement in San Quentin. She’s kidnapped by thugs wanting her to talk about her best friend, Lindsay Boxer, who’s an SFPD homicide detective and the story’s main character. San Francisco has a restrictive new gun law, and gun-totin’ folks everywhere have their boxer shorts in a twist. A national resistance movement has formed—Defenders of the Second—whose motto is “We will not comply.” They find it outrageous that the new law makes it illegal to own a gun that can kill 50 people with a single clip. Meanwhile, lots of bodies show up: A young girl disappears and is later found dead in a ditch, and ex-cops are found dead with their lips stapled shut and “You talk, you die” written on their foreheads. An inmate is found hanged in prison. And “a massive but unspecified load of military-style weaponry was en route from Mexico to the City by the Bay.” In a “frustrating, multipronged case,” there’s a harrowing shootout memorialized in a video showing “twenty-two of the scariest seconds” of Boxer’s life. She’s an appealing series hero with loving family and friends, but she may arrive at a crossroads where she has “to choose between my work and [my] baby girl.” The formulaic story has unmemorable writing, but it’s entertaining and well told. You probably won’t have to worry about the main characters, who have thus far survived 21 adventures. Except for the little girl, you can expect people to get what they deserve. It's relatively mild as crime novels go, but the women characters are serious, strong, and admirable.
Enjoyable storytelling by two masters of the craft.Pub Date: May 2, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-316-49937-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2022
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Patterson and Ellis put their characters through hell in this hard-edged second installment of their Black Book series after The Black Book (2017).
A young girl is one of four people gunned down in a “very, very bad” K-Town drive-by shooting in Chicago. Police are under intense political pressure to solve it, so Detective Billy Harney is assigned to the Special Operations Section to put the brakes on the gang violence on the West Side. His new partner is Detective Carla Griffin, whom colleagues describe as “sober as an undertaker” and “as fun as a case of hemorrhoids.” And she looks like the last thing he needs, a pill popper. (But is she?) Department muckety-mucks want Harney to fail, and Griffin is supposed to spy on him. The poor guy already has a hell of a backstory: His daughter died and his wife committed suicide (or did she?) four years earlier, he’s been shot in the head, charged with murder (and exonerated), and helped put his own father in prison. (Nothing like a tormented hero!) Now the deaths still haunt him while he and Griffin begin to suspect they’re not looking at a simple turf war starring the Imperial Gangster Nation. Meanwhile, the captain in Internal Affairs is deep in the pocket of some bad guys who run an international human trafficking ring, and he loathes Harney. The protagonist is lucky to have Patti, his sister and fellow detective, as his one reliable friend who lets him know he’s being set up. The authors do masterful work creating flawed characters to root for or against, and they certainly pile up the troubles for Billy Harney. Abundant nasty twists will hold readers’ rapt attention in this dark, violent, and fast-moving thriller.
Top-drawer crime fiction. The authors are tough on the hero, but the hero is tough.Pub Date: March 29, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-316-49940-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Dec. 15, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2021
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