Ruthless

A seemingly harmless barroom flirtation saddles Nick White, the appealing hero of this middling crime novel from Thriller Award–finalist Rector (Already Gone), with $20,000 in cash, a flash drive, and a photo of an intended hit victim when’s he’s mistaken for a hired killer. Soon the real hired killer is on Nick’s trail. With help from his ex-cop father, Charlie, Nick discovers the identity of the would-be target, Abigail Pierce; the woman who unwittingly hired him, Patricia Holloway; and their relationship to Daniel Holloway, the head of a medical research firm, Holloway Industries. When Nick decides to warn Abigail, the two of them fall into the clutches of a trio of ruthless men, who give the pair 24 hours to get the information they want from Patricia. Nick faces steep odds as he tries to figure out the Holloways’ secrets, keep himself and others alive, and neutralize the trio of killers. Rector pulls some nice surprises from an otherwise routine thriller plot. (June)