From Publishers Weekly
Peter Macklin is a truly compelling antihero and not the kind who's secretly saving the world. This is the real thing: a man who kills much too easily and who knows an enormous amount, but not necessarily right from wrong. Macklin (last seen in 1991's Kill Zone) has retired from the hit-man business and married Laurie, a young woman who knows nothing of his former career. They're on their honeymoon in Los Angeles when Macklin is forced back into his old calling by a Midwestern crime lord who's interested in expanding his territory. Traveling to San Antonio, Tex., to finish somebody else's botched hit, Macklin must remember how to read every inadvertent message from his contacts, his target and his potential enemies. He's a former master at the unspoken and the unintentional, despite being a little rusty on the fine points. Back in L.A., Laurie is being held hostage. At first she thinks the lanky cowboy named Abilene is just keeping her company while her husband is away "on business," but a fist in the face changes her take on things. Fortunately, Laurie is as resourceful as Abilene is ruthless, and she saves herself from his everpresent knife more than once. The story vibrates with letter-perfect details, and the plot, with changing locations and changing points of view, is deftly handled. Each character, major or minor, is fresh and real, and this creates a terrific energy throughout the book, demonstrating once again why Estleman has won so many awards. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Peter Macklin is a professional killer. He likes to think of himself as retired, but assassination isn't a field that lends itself to an inscribed watch and a retirement party. Still, he's found himself a smart, sexy, and sensible young woman to marry (she thinks he's a retired salesman) and is enjoying a passionate honeymoon in Los Angeles. Then Macklin's past pulls him to San Antonio for some unfinished business. As soon as he leaves, a Rodeo Drive cowboy named Abilene shows up on Laurie Macklin's door, claiming that Peter asked him to squire her around Hollywood while her husband is away. When Macklin's one-day trip stretches to three with no word, Laurie feels more like a prisoner than a guest. She's right. In a new series, genre veteran Estleman converges three plot lines--Laurie's dilemma, Macklin's unfinished business, and a San Antonio cop's investigation of unlikely Mob hits--into a stunning conclusion. Macklin is a creation of surprising depth and intelligence, and he and Laurie make a good match. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
"Other writers do it well. Estleman does it best." --The Armchair Detective
"This story vibrates with letter-perfect details, and the plot, with changing locations and changing points of view, is deftly handled. Each character, major or minor, is fresh and real, and this creates a terrific energy throughout the book, demonstrating once again why Estleman has won so many awards." -- Publishers Weekly
"Spell-binding. Just about anything Estleman writes is worth reading." --Reviewing the Evidence
Review
"Other writers do it well. Estleman does it best." --The Armchair Detective
"This story vibrates with letter-perfect details, and the plot, with changing locations and changing points of view, is deftly handled. Each character, major or minor, is fresh and real, and this creates a terrific energy throughout the book, demonstrating once again why Estleman has won so many awards." -- Publishers Weekly
"Spell-binding. Just about anything Estleman writes is worth reading." --Reviewing the Evidence
Book Description
Peter Macklin, contract killer--retired--has found himself the perfect woman. He's convinced young, beautiful, innocent Laurie that he is simply a salesman from Detroit, and they're passionately honeymooning in Los Angeles. . . . until the phone call. Peter tells Laurie he has to go to Sacramento to take care of business, and he'll be back in a day. After a day passes, though, a man called Abilene shows up with a note from Peter saying Abilene will take care of her until his return.
Macklin's retirement seems to have been premature, and Laurie's innocence is about to end . . .
About the Author
Loren D. Estleman was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and graduated from Eastern Michigan University with a BA degree in English Literature and Journalism in 1974. In 2002, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters for his contribution to American literature.
He is the author of more than fifty novels in the categories of mystery, historical western, and mainstream, and has received four Western Writers of American Golden Spur Awards, three Western Heritage Awards, and three Shamus Awards. He has been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, Britain's Silver Dagger, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2003, the mammoth Encyclopedia of Detective Fiction named him the most critically acclaimed writer of U.S. detective
Something Borrowed, Something Black FROM THE PUBLISHER
"Peter Macklin is a killer - or was. He got out. He quit the mob, left Detroit, and finally met Laurie, a gorgeous, smart, passionate woman who makes him feel that perhaps life holds more for him than the deadly game of his former profession." "Los Angeles. Honeymoon. Only the memories hurt, and she's so good she knows not to ask him about what he won't discuss." "Then comes the phone call. He's got to travel to Sacramento to take care of a business matter that he thought was already settled. It'll just be a day, he tells her, and then they'll continue their honeymoon." "A day passes, and instead of Peter, a man called Abilene shows up, sent, says Peter's note, to take care of her while he's gone. But when Laurie tires of Abilene's hick, country ways and attemps to break away from him, one hard moment tells her that he's no friend - and that she's having the Honeymoon from Hell." "Peter loves her, doesn't he? If he does, would he leave her with his "friend"? Peter has his own problems, taking care of business, nasty business, in San Antonio, and it isn't pretty." "What has he gotten her into? Will it ever end? Or will he always be a killer? Laurie just wishes she could know...but right now, she's not sure she wants to know." And Macklin? He's not sure of anything, anymore.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Peter Macklin is a truly compelling antihero and not the kind who's secretly saving the world. This is the real thing: a man who kills much too easily and who knows an enormous amount, but not necessarily right from wrong. Macklin (last seen in 1991's Kill Zone) has retired from the hit-man business and married Laurie, a young woman who knows nothing of his former career. They're on their honeymoon in Los Angeles when Macklin is forced back into his old calling by a Midwestern crime lord who's interested in expanding his territory. Traveling to San Antonio, Tex., to finish somebody else's botched hit, Macklin must remember how to read every inadvertent message from his contacts, his target and his potential enemies. He's a former master at the unspoken and the unintentional, despite being a little rusty on the fine points. Back in L.A., Laurie is being held hostage. At first she thinks the lanky cowboy named Abilene is just keeping her company while her husband is away "on business," but a fist in the face changes her take on things. Fortunately, Laurie is as resourceful as Abilene is ruthless, and she saves herself from his everpresent knife more than once. The story vibrates with letter-perfect details, and the plot, with changing locations and changing points of view, is deftly handled. Each character, major or minor, is fresh and real, and this creates a terrific energy throughout the book, demonstrating once again why Estleman has won so many awards. (Apr. 26) FYI: Estleman has won three Shamus Awards for his Amos Walker series, the latest of which is Sinister Heights (Forecasts, Dec. 10, 2001). Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
Peter Macklin is pushing 45; he's been retired from business for several years; and he's just married Laurie, the dishy 21-year-old who's honeymooning with him in Los Angeles. So he has every reason to think his days as a contract killer are over. But when Charles Major, ne Carlo Maggiore, the crime boss Macklin pumped two bullets into back in Detroit, spots him hours after one of his lesser killers botches a contract on San Antonio bookie Johns Davis, he's back in the game, with Maggiore's cowboy thug Roy (Abilene) Skeets babysitting Laurie to make sure Macklin doesn't miss the target or change his mind. That's the setup, and unless you're worried that Estleman brought his long-dormant hit man (Any Man's Death, 1986, etc.) out of retirement in order to kill him or his bride, that's pretty much all there is. The complications, from Laurie's attempts to slip out from under Abilene's watchful eye to Macklin's sarabande with the San Antonio locals to a climactic pair of showdowns back in LA, are all dispatched with an experienced hand; but there's nothing like the magisterial density of the author's Amos Walker novels (Sinister Heights, 2002, etc.), and oddly little attention to the questions of who would want to kill inoffensive Johns Davis, and why. As to the equally interesting question of how Laurie Macklin's going to deal with the long-term implications of her bridegroom's career choice, it looks as if that's going to have to wait for the sequel.
Art & Photography
Book Info
