Author Matt Coyle has put San Diego private eye Rick Cahill through a lot in his fine series of crime novels. Rick has accumulated sinister enemies on both sides of the law. He鈥檚 been shot and beaten so many times that his body is laced with scars. And he鈥檚 in the early stages of CTE, a degenerative brain disease that unleashes fits of rage and may soon kill him.
His wife, convinced that Rick鈥檚 work 鈥� and Rick himself 鈥攁re too dangerous, has left him, taking their 20-month-old daughter with her.
As 鈥淥dyssey鈥檚 End,鈥� the 10th book in the series, opens, Rick is considering another line of work but fears he鈥檚 too much of an adrenaline junkie to give it up. Still, he can鈥檛 quit just yet 鈥� not until he can tuck enough money aside to secure his little girl鈥檚 future.
Such is his state of mind when two old enemies suddenly reappear. Sergei Volkov, a homicidal Russian mob boss who has reasons to want Rick dead, has just been released from federal prison. And Peter Stone, Rick鈥檚 longtime nemesis, shows up with a surprising request.
Stone says he needs a kidney transplant, but aging, violent criminals don鈥檛 rank high on donor lists. His only hope is an organ from his grown daughter, but she鈥檚 gone missing. So Stone wants Rick to find her.
Rick figures Stone鈥檚 story is a lie, or at least not the whole truth. Besides, there鈥檚 no way Rich wants to work for this psychopath. But when Stone hands him $50,000 dollars, Rick reluctantly takes the job.
As he digs into the case, Rick is threatened by two FBI agents who mistakenly think he is searching for Theodore Raskin, the fugitive founder of a fraudulent crypto currency firm. Soon, more complications arise, and several people associated with Rick鈥檚 investigation end up dead.
Coyle鈥檚 prose is vivid and tight, his characters are well drawn, and the tension rarely lets up in this fast-paced tale of duplicity and betrayal. The climactic scene is a long-drawn-out gun battle in which Rick, armed with a handgun, takes on a small army of Russian mobsters brandishing automatic rifles. That Rick prevails is satisfying in a John Wick sort of way, but some readers might his survival a tad farfetched.
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winner of the Mystery Writers of America鈥檚 Edgar Award, is the author of the Mulligan crime novels including 鈥淭he Dread Line.鈥�
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AP book reviews:
Bruce Desilva, The Associated Press
