Book Review-Older Books 33

Review—Trouble Shooter

TroubleShooter, written by Gregg Hurwitz, was published by Harper Collins Publishers. The book was released in September 2005 and is 320 pages.

Troubleshooter is a nickname given to Officer Tim Rackley.  He has just returned to work and is immediately embroiled in a case involving rogue bikers, prison escapees and drugs.  Several of Tim’s colleagues were recently killed in the aiding and abetting in the escape of two nomad bikers who were doing serious prison time.  The services needed of bikers will be revealed in the drama that unfolds.

This new case involves Tim being placed in the midst of a biker gang war.  He is a married man with a baby due in a couple of months.  His wife Dray is also an officer and while making a traffic stop, she runs into these bikers with a hostage and ends up with a bullet in her chest.  She remains unresponsive in the hospital while Tim continues to work this case.  The bikers, one group known as the Sinners and the other group known as the Cholos, are well-known to these detectives.  The Sinners seem to have some big plans, as they have been picking off the Cholos one-by-one and they have been receiving similar payback treatment.  On the day of a funeral for one of their group, the Sinners take a final step in removing the Cholos from their field of play.  This field is the field of drug trafficking and through kidnapping schemes and some embalming plans from Mexico, the Sinners have come up with new ways to import their drugs.  This drug is also a new chemical similar to Heroin and vastly stronger in the high it delivers; it is known as Allah’s Tears and it is delivered through Mexico from an Arab dealer.  Tracking down the clues and the multitude of bikers and their followers involved in this plan, keep the detectives on their toes and the forced liaison with the FBI doesn’t make their job any easier.  Throughout the case, Dray, though not physically verbal at present, is frequently being the voice of Tim’s conscience, when the time for killing comes up she is often reminding him that blind vengeance will not get him the answers he needs to do this right.

Gregg Hurwitz’s dialogue keeps one interested and the pace of the book is quick enough to stay involved, though at times it is a bit gory and very graphic.  I know I’ll try some of his other books after reading this one.