Rough Men

A devastating personal loss sends writer Will Daniels on a bloody quest for revenge in Davis’s third novel, a solid crime thriller. Daniels’s wayward son, Alex, while participating in the robbery of a Lake Michigan Credit Union, guns down a loan officer he suspects of reaching for his own weapon. But after the gang escapes unscathed, one of Alex’s fellow thieves blows Alex away. The news reaches Daniels three days later, with the tragedy of the death only compounded by the circumstances. In the course of the bank heist, four innocents were killed, including the parents of a little girl, who herself was shot in the head and lies at death’s door. Naturally, Daniels is plagued by guilt over failing his child, and he’s unconvinced that the police will exert much effort to find Alex’s killer. Davis (Nickel Plated) makes the path Daniels follows a grimly plausible one, and tosses in a couple of curves to spice up the plot. (Jan.)