Product Description

After retaliating against a drug lord, savvy, street-tough Val Duran flees to Hollywood. Meanwhile, an L.A. playboy beds a gorgeous redhead and wakes up with a psychopath trying to kill him. Neither Val nor Kilo know it yet, but they are on a collision course with a sexy marine biologist and one lethally dysfunctional family in this "dark, comic tour de force" (James Ellroy).

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #573963 in Books
• Published on: 2000-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 352 pages

Amazon.com Review
You know you're in smart hands in this latest thriller by Robert Ferrigno because his character, ex-undercover cop Val Duran, appears on the television quiz show Jeopardy. His reasoning? To catch the attention of a dangerous adversary named Junior.

Val smiled, imagining Junior's expression when he saw the show. Junior taped every episode of Jeopardy. Half the dope dealers in south Florida were glued to the tube every afternoon, making bets, yelling at the contestants. Junior once shot out a forty-seven inch Mitsubishi over a missed answer.

Junior also killed Val's former partner and threatened his only living relative, his grandmother, Grace. Val takes the old woman with him from Miami, and they hide out in Southern California. Here, he plots some serious revenge on the Floridian villain. Complicating matters are a beautiful, troubled marine biologist named Kyle Abbott and her seriously dysfunctional wealthy family. There's also a pair of killer extortionists after the Abbott family's fortune--a gorgeous sociopath named Jackie and a monolithic Gulf War Syndrome victim named Dekker. They all start out as very nasty genre stereotypes, but end up, thanks to Ferrigno's marvelously deft touch, as understandable and even likable human beings. There are even a couple of fresh insights into the overused landscape of Los Angeles: "Even before dawn the freeways buzzed with ambition. It made him homesick for the sultry indolence of Miami, cruising down the A1A, windows rolled down so he could smell the oleander blooming along the median."

Other Ferrigno titles include Dead Man's Dance and Dead Silent. --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly
As if invigorated by his move to a new publisher, Ferrigno (The House of Latitudes) has produced his best novel in years, a splendidly readable, cinematic thriller setAas is his wontAin Southern California and populated by mean drug dealers, beautiful surfers, "trust fund babies," "thugs on commission" and murderers for hire. Ferrigno's reluctant hero is Val Duran, an ex-cop: he's first seen in Miami, where Junior, a vengeful narcotraficante, has Val's oldest friend blown away before Val's eyes. Val flees to L.A., where he finds work as a technical adviser to "ultra-low budget action movies." Soon Val also finds Kyle Abbott, "smart and sinewy, a take-no-prisoners surfer" from a rich Laguna Beach family. Her arm brushes his, and it's love. Kyle's half-brother, Kilo, conspires with lawless, sadistic Jackie Hendricks and her Gulf War veteran sidekick, Dekker, to kill Kilo's stepmother, Kyle's mother. The ensuing Abbott family intrigue, and Junior's vendetta against Val, set up a landslide of betrayals, hard decisions, secret pacts and violent stratagems. Will Val's passion for Kyle expose her to Junior's wrath? Has Kilo fallen in love with Jackie? Will the dealers bring in the feds? Ferrigno introduces, and updates expertly, all the properties of SoCal noir: film, boats, drug runners, terminal illness, financial chicanery and underwater danger. The array of subplots and mixed motives should entice fans of Elmore Leonard and Ross Thomas. Ferrigno's complex edifice of wrongdoing rises to an ending that feels just right, and shows how far some racy characters will go in search of moneyAand for love. Agent, Mary Evans.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Val Duran, his undercover narco days behind him, is running from Junior, the only white-trash drug kingpin left in Miami. But what Val finds in Los Angeles proves every bit as lethal as Junior. First there's Kyle, a marine biologist whom Val falls hard for, and then there's her drunken stepbrother and his seriously bent girlfriend, who are plotting to murder Kyle's mother. Val lands in the middle of it all, with matters complicated by the arrival of Junior, who hopes to find time to meet Vanna White after he kills Val. This is one of those noir thrillers, like the film Body Heat, where you know the plot is going to turn you in circles, but the end result is never in doubt: the hero has it bad, and it's going to get worse. Ferrigno, author of The Horse Latitudes (1990), capably steers his plot around the corners and injects plenty of Hiaasen-type humor along the way. The ending, evoking The Maltese Falcon, hits just the right minor chord. Bill Ott

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Customer Reviews

Gripping and fun
I can't remember the last time a I read a book in a day because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next and the characters were so compelling. I remember liking THE HORSE LATITUDES but did not read the two novels in between. Terrific and entertaining read!

Terrific!
Eight months ago in Miami, the Jackson brothers, working for Junior, a drugpin, kill undercover cop Steffano. At a Cuban restaurant Steffano's police partner Val Duran shares a meal with the Jacksons. The hired guns take immense pleasure in bragging to Val about the bombing death of Steffano as much as the meal they savor. Fearing for his own life, the next morning Val flees for Los Angeles.

Not wanting to obtain any jobs involving law enforcement, Val quickly accepts work as a stuntman. Val also meets and falls in love with Kyle Abbott. However, he soon finds himself embroiled with a family on the ropes. Kyle's half-brother hires some thugs to kill his wealthy stepmother. Adding to his woes, Junior wants Val dead. As both situations and his passion for Kyle heat up, Val finds himself in the middle of trouble that easily could leave him dead.

No one who enjoys a fast-paced Hollywood mystery will suffer from a broken heart after reading Robert Ferrigno's best novel in about a decade (since THE HORSE LATITUDES). The story line is reminiscent of Elmore Leonard's Shorty tales as the myriad of subplots blends together into an action-packed story line where California dreaming meets Miami vice. Fans of the sub-genre will cherish Val for his quest for love even as thugs threaten his life. Readers will definitely desire his return in a sequel.

Harriet Klausner

Summer reading...
It was a blast! Heartbreaker was just the right thing for a summer's afternoon. The characters were a little shallow; but, what the heck! It was still fun. The story was fast paced and action filled. Take a copy with you on your next vacation.