Carve the Heart: The Jack Palace Series

Pasquella’s fast-paced sequel to Yard Dog explores the seamy side of Toronto through the eyes of former convict Jack Palace. Professional poker player Cassandra , Jack’s former girlfriend who walked out on him 10 years earlier, needs his help. She owes $600,000 to Anton , a violent gangster who hired her to front for him in a high-stakes poker game that she suspects was rigged. She wants to get out of her partnership with Anton, but the gangster is putting pressure on her to keep working for him and pay off her debt. Jack agrees to talk to Anton and ask him to back off, but his task is complicated after Cassandra disappears. Meanwhile, Anton seeks to recover his stash of coke from former biker Walter , the father of Melody , a vivacious stripper and Jack’s new girlfriend. Melody has risky plans of her own that raise the stakes. Pasquella vividly captures the dog-eat-dog existence of the Toronto underworld. Readers will relate to Jack, a white knight with a penchant for defending victimized women. [em]Agent: Kelvin Kong, K2 Literary (Canada). (Dec.) [/em]