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(More customer reviews)Maine author Patrick Quinlan brings some real bad actors - most, but not all of them, from New York - to Portland in this first novel, a crackling, non-stop action thriller with talented, likable protagonists and a vivid sense of place.
The story opens with one of the protagonists, lovely 25-year-old Lola Bell, about to be raped during what she thought was a modeling-job audition. But Lola was raped once before as a teenager in the Chicago projects, and she swore it would never happen again. Now, in an office on Congress Street, her nine years of martial arts training finally get a work out. When the breathless scene is done two guys who really deserve it lie bleeding on the floor, their cameras smashed, Lola exhilarated.
Lola's roommate thinks she should go to the police or, failing that, at least tell her boyfriend, aging Smoke Dugan, a gentle man in his 50s who walks with a cane. But Lola decides to keep the excitement to herself, despite the fact that these guys have her address.
Smoke has his own secrets. An arsonist and bomb maker from New York who was always careful never to kill anyone, his last bomb was used to bring down a passenger-packed jet. Heartsick, he kills the mafia boss responsible, steals $2.5 million from him, and flees to a quiet life in Portland. But he knows time is running out.
Denny Cruz is a hit man with scary eyes. He works alone so it makes him nervous that two young punks have been sent with him to Portland. Do the mob boys know he's getting tired, thinking of the impossible - retirement? The younger boys get real joy out of killing - though one prefers stealing cars, not that he'd admit it.
The only reason Smoke survives his first encounter with this charming trio is their intent to capture him alive and find out where the money is hidden. His own careful planning and quick wits do the rest. But the hit men know about Lola and karate kicks can't save her this time - or her librarian roommate, a nice girl pining for adventure. The hit men snatch the girls and tell Smoke to give himself up or they die.
There's only one problem. Lola's beaten camera boys arrived on the scene in time to see Lola and her friend shoved into the trunk and they've decided to follow and get in on the action.
Quinlan packs enough twists and turns into this zany chase to keep your pulse pounding. He switches viewpoints among all the characters and gives even the worst of them at least a glimmer of human feeling. His flair for character is as quick and stylish as his deft hand with action and plot. While not every event is 100 percent believable (starting with street-smart Lola being taken in by a couple of dressed-up trailer trash) it's all so clever and fast you'll be delighted to find he leaves room for a sequel.
--Portsmouth Herald
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