cover image The Takedown

The Takedown

Patrick Quinlan, . . St. Martin's Minotaur, $21.95 (263pp) ISBN 978-0-312-34982-0

Fresh from five years in prison for a pot bust in California, Dick Miller tries to go straight in his hometown of New York City in Quinlan's fine second thriller (after 2006's Smoked ). Miller wants to parlay the skills he used in prison—typing—into a job, but instead gets roped into shady work by an old high school buddy who runs a lucrative chop shop. After having a few too many drinks one night, Miller discovers the dead body of his girlfriend, Dot Racine, in the trunk of his car. Miller has no idea who killed her; for all he knows, he may have done it and was too drunk to remember. It's not for a couple of days—with Dot still in the trunk—that Miller finds out she had been stealing gobs of money from her employer and that lots of people wanted her dead. Along with the lovable, bumbling Miller, Quinlan brings to glorious life several other offbeat, at times deviant characters from roads less traveled. The plot hurtles along like an express train to its smashing climax. (June)