More than fulfilling the promise of Huston's 2004 debut, Caught Stealing, this remarkably assured hard-boiled caper has rapid-fire pacing, dead-on dialogue and a beleaguered protagonist who just can't get a break. Former minor league baseball player Hank Thompson barely escaped with his life at the end of Caught, making off with $4 million of the Russian mafia's money. Several years later, he's running a breakfast place in the Yucatan, down the shore from his secluded hut. When a Russian bounty hunter shows up asking questions, Hank Fed-Exes his bankroll to a friend in Las Vegas and sneaks north across the border. When not trying to kill him, two surf bum criminals convince him they're allies; as the book reaches its climax, Hank finds himself dodging a memorable cast of lowlifes, would-be mobsters and scammers. Huston takes care with Hank, making him funny and sympathetic (even as he reminds us that he has killed six people in New York), and giving even cardboard situations and slight exchanges charge. (One of the surfers on a pair of boots: "Kind of metallish for my taste, but fuck it, we're incognito, right?") This second installment of a planned trilogy will leave readers anxious for more.
A Dangerous Man Huston doesn't let his battered, tormented protagonist rest for one moment in the exciting final volume of his trilogy featuring Henry "Hank" Thompson, now an unwilling hit man for David Dolokhov, the Russian mobster whose $4 million he stole (and lost) in 2005's Six Bad Things. With a botched plastic surgery job that's left him disfigured and in chronic pain, Hank is only able to deal with his nightmares about the people he's killed with handfuls of prescription painkillers. He's on the verge of slipping under when Dolokhov assigns him to protect Miguel Arenas, a rising young baseball star and gambling addict who also owes the Russian a big chunk of change. Hank is forced to confront his own past as a former minor league player as his bodyguard gig takes him to New York, where his misadventures began. While the book drags a bit in the middle, the pace picks up toward the end as Hank finds himself once again doing what he does best, running for his life.
The second edition of this extremely well-received political biography of Vladimir Putin builds on the strengths of the previous edition to provide the most detailed and nuanced account of the man, his politics and his profound influence on Russian politics, foreign policy and society.
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