cover image Stoneface

Stoneface

Edward R. Jones. Dutton Books, $18.95 (218pp) ISBN 978-1-55611-311-6

What if the high school bully--a figure whose attitude and actions are the stuff of the average person's worst nightmares--suddenly showed up on your doorstep after you'd become rich and successful? That's the problem California business partners Ben Hollister and John Malone face with Freeman ``Stoneface'' McKee. McKee's brutality during his Texas youth pales next to his current behavior: in one unforgettable scene, he casually shoots an innocent bystander in order to more easily observe security expert Allen Cage, hired by Hollister and Malone to send McKee packing. McKee,in turn, has been hired by a mysterious employer to wrangle some information from his old chums. When Malone is murdered and McKee kidnaps Cage's lover, Caprita Arciaga, a bloody confrontation between Cage and McKee is assured. Cage is apparently loosely based upon the author himself, an ex-convict who in Hacksaw chronicled his ability to escape custody. This fast-paced story ends with an out-of-left-field finale that will startle readers and leave them wondering just what they put in the water in that old Texas high school. (Dec.)