cover image Copp in Shock

Copp in Shock

Don Pendleton. Dutton Books, $19.95 (253pp) ISBN 978-1-55611-287-4

Pendleton first made a splash with the neo-pulp Executioner series, and his sixth Joe Copp thriller ( Copp On Ice etc.) is true to those roots: each short chapter features at least one major plot twist or murder. PI Copp wakes up in an L.A. hospital suffering from amnesia and a gunshot wound. He doesn't recognize the name of Martha Kaufman, whom he learns was killed in his house at the same time he was injured. Escaping from the hospital to his home, Copp finds a clue that sends him to a small mountain town in Northern California, where the locals seem to know him, where Martha Kaufman's art gallery and home seem famliar--and where he finds a recent Lake Tahoe marriage license for Martha Kaufman and Joe Copp! That's just the start of a roller-coaster ride of mayhem, murder and a million-dollar cache in a safe deposit box. The ending is a Big Switcheroo, also bloody, that will surprise readers. But Pendleton plays fair and square; if his tale isn't very deep (``There are a lot of badass people out on the streets--anywhere, everywhere'') it's still rollicking fun. (May)