No Justice

There's an all too believable conspiracy at the heart of this novel, one that is frightening both in the casual manner in which it's presented and the blithe way it's believed by the characters. On its way to declaring martial law and cornering the U.S. drug trade, the CIA is stirring up civil unrest and arresting people like Taylor Tarrington, dealer for the Deleon family. The Deleons send Tarrington to Florida to head up their marijuana operation, with the help of a murderous vixen named Torren, who wears tight black Spandex and five-inch stiletto heels. The deal goes down in a blizzard of betrayals and backstabbings (followed by an orgy of vengeance and house-cleaning) as a drug-dealing Robin Hood battles the CIA Sheriffs of Nottingham in the name of good-old American free enterprise. Short on character and long on action and disturbing set pieces, this energetic debut (from a self-styled ""eight year political prisoner of the Federal Penitentiary system"") gleefully details the smarminess of government agents, and the various ways Torren kills people--all in the service of a premise that will satisfy the most paranoid of conspiracy theorists. Author tour.(June)