Troubleshooter

by: Gregg Hurwitz

Published by: Harper Torch

Reviewed by Jeff Foster

Gritty, greasy, grimy. Troubleshooter by Gregg Hurwitz is all that and more.

Nomad bikers, Den Laurey and Lance Kaner, have just been liberated from custody while being transported to federal prison, U.S. marshals' lie dead on an LA freeway and the manhunt for the two brutal killers is on.

The U.S. Marshal's Service has one man that can do the job, Tim Rackley, whose special investigative style and willingness to use all means at his disposal, are called in by the Marshal's Service with the complicity of the Mayor of Los Angeles. His mission: get Laury and Kaner into custody--or kill them. Either is okay. Do it and do it now.

The hunt for the two biker nomads, members of a deadly group known as the Laughing Sinners, takes you through the seedy underbelly of the outlaw biker world. Harleys roar, dust and bullets fly as Rackley and his team, peel away the defenses of the Sinners and take the club's most notorious members down one at a time.

Dray Rackley, Tim's wife, and LA County Sheriff's deputy, is enmeshed into the hunt when she performs what she thinks is a routine stop of a biker along a desolate highway. Wrong. She's stopped Laurey, and is soon surrounded by Kaner and three other Sinner nomads; the resulting assault puts Dray in the hospital where her life hangs in the balance.

As the investigation widens, and the stakes get higher, Rackley and the team uncover the real motivation for Laurey's liberation. The Sinners have made a pact with a group of Afghan extremists to smuggle millions in high-potency heroin to finance their future operations and nefarious activities sure to be trouble in America's future.

As with any good crime thriller there is a well-played inter-service rivalry between the Marshal's Service and the FBI. The FBI, as is typical, takes the brunt of the abuse in the initial chapters, but finally sees the errors of working the big picture instead of working the finer elements of the investigation.

Troubleshooter is a great thriller. Plenty of guns, raids, dogs and drugs. You won't be disappointed.