Despite the lack of the underlying complex concept (fractal geometry) and the philosophical ponderings that distinguished Cohen's debut, The Fractal Murders
(2004), this solid follow-up shows appealing new facets of rugged Colorado sleuth Pepper Keane. Keane's old law firm hires him to dognap a champion bluetick coonhound belonging to Karlynn Slade, the estranged wife of the unsavory leader of an outlaw biker gang, as well as to baby-sit Karlynn until she can enter a federal witness protection program. The job gets harder when Karlynn disappears; dicier when her biker husband hires Keane to find her; and deadlier when her trail intersects with one bearing the scent of an unsolved murder from Keane's past. Many of the intriguing characters who assisted Keane previously reappear, including his love interest, math professor Jane Smyers, and his friend and martial arts mentor, Scott McCutcheon. Though Keane makes some difficult choices in morally ambiguous situations, his encounters with bikers, skinheads and survivalists leave little time for the kind of rumination that made The Fractal Murders
so distinctive. Agent, Sandra Bond. (July 20)
