Mike Yeager, who starred in Lakeman's debut, The Shadow Catchers
(2006), and appeared in his second, Chillwater Cove
(2007), takes on a fiendishly tortuous assignment for the FBI as a rogue (“broken wing”) agent in the author's imaginative third novel. The 42-year-old Yeager must infiltrate the New Orleans organization run by crime boss Emelio Barca, with whose daughter he once had a relationship, and see that Barca's planned sale of a kidnap victim succeeds. The botched handling of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina provides a vivid setting for Lakeman's tale, which mingles organized crime, government contractors, prominent politicians and the FBI. All of Yeager's enemies and most of his allies have their own agendas, which reduce the chance of his survival. The complex Yeager carries a boatload of guilt and a raft of compensatory skills. Lakeman's strong writing make this thriller series one that should win an increasingly large audience. (Mar.)
