Broken Wing [Hardcover]

Thomas Lakeman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2009

Mike Yeager, an FBI agent with a gift for profiling, is no angel, yet somehow the Bureau has always found a way to forgive him his mistakes. Now, even though he’s in disgrace, there’s a job that only he can do. In New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, a couple was kidnapped; the husband---a spy---was tortured and killed, and now the wife is in danger.

Normally the Bureau might ask Yeager to lead a rescue mission, but this time, they want him to pose as a fallen agent---a broken wing---infiltrate the group responsible, and wait to see what he can learn. The kidnappers are thought to be working for Emelio Barca, one of the most powerful crime bosses in New Orleans, and the target of Mike’s past botched case.

Mike sees this opportunity as his last chance, even though it’s bound to wreck his renewed relationship with fellow agent Peggy Weaver, maybe for good. He’s gone undercover once before in his career, and that time his mistakes led to Barca’s escape and the maiming of Mike’s first partner. This time he vows Barca won’t get away. One way or another, Yeager’s career will come full circle in the Big Easy, the city where it all began.

Broken Wing is a breathtaking page-turner from a writer who seems to have mastered the genre in only three novels.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Mike Yeager, who starred in Lakeman's debut, The Shadow Catchers (2006), and appeared in his second, Chillwater Cove (2007), takes on a fiendishly tortuous assignment for the FBI as a rogue (broken wing) agent in the author's imaginative third novel. The 42-year-old Yeager must infiltrate the New Orleans organization run by crime boss Emelio Barca, with whose daughter he once had a relationship, and see that Barca's planned sale of a kidnap victim succeeds. The botched handling of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina provides a vivid setting for Lakeman's tale, which mingles organized crime, government contractors, prominent politicians and the FBI. All of Yeager's enemies and most of his allies have their own agendas, which reduce the chance of his survival. The complex Yeager carries a boatload of guilt and a raft of compensatory skills. Lakeman's strong writing make this thriller series one that should win an increasingly large audience. (Mar.)
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Review

Praise for Thomas Lakeman

“Two elements elevate Lakeman. First, he gets the characters right. . . . Lakeman creates people so real, you either want to save them, sleep with them, or send them to prison. Second, Lakeman makes you turn the pages. . . . It’s a gift similar to Dan Brown’s, but unlike Brown, Lakeman can really write, not simply plot.”
---Cleveland Plain Dealer

“The very definition of a page-turner.”
---Kirkus Reviews (starred review) on Broken Wing

“An atmospheric, action-filled story . . . Many dark corners fill Chillwater Cove, even when the sun seems to be shinning.”
---South Florida Sun-Sentinel on Chillwater Cove

“The pace is fast and the prose often tasty. . . . Lakeman is also trying . . . to speak the truth about a region that arouses his love, his anger, and his sorrow.”
---The Washington Post on Chillwater Cove

“When a debut novel like The Shadow Catchers by Thomas Lakeman comes on like gangbusters . . . it's like watching a rookie pitcher on the way to a no-hitter.”
---The Boston Globe on The Shadow Catchers

“Thomas Lakeman had me hooked to the end, where the plot twisted like an Olympic diver.”
---The Charlotte Observer on The Shadow Catchers

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (March 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312380224
• ISBN-13: 978-0312380229
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,616,137 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars superb police procedural, March 20, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Broken Wing (Hardcover)

In New Orleans the FBI assigns forty-something Special Agent Mike Yeager to go undercover as a rogue operative in order to gain insider access to the growing Barca mob. Mike thinks it is a small world as he once dated the chieftain's daughter Sofia, who he deserted two decades ago to turn in her dad. Mike's current task is to help the mobster expedite the sale of kidnapped Amrita Burke, whose husband was murdered during the abduction.

His actual task is to stealthily investigate who brutalized and killed British citizen Simon Burke and has offered up his wife Amrita up for bid. Mike meets with chieftain Emelio Barca and his half-son Grady, who agree to his working with them on the Amrita sale. However, his efforts to find her spouse's killer and ultimately rescue Amrita take a personal spin when he realizes Sofia needs his help too.

The still devastated parts of the post Katrina city steals the show in this superb police procedural as neighborhoods have become urban wastelands. The hero quickly learns to trust no one, especially those who are supposedly his FBI support group, if he is to accomplish his mission and leave New Orleans alive. There is plenty of explosive action and double and triple crosses on all sides including the law as avarice and corruption greet Yeager everywhere he goes. He already has enough of a burden with remorse, guilt and psychological defense mechanisms loading him down before he arrives (see The Shadow Catchers), but the BROKEN WING undercover operative will quickly understand he is in the eye of the hurricane.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling read!, April 9, 2009

By 

Rebecca L. Morrison (Makawao, HI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Broken Wing (Kindle Edition)

Lakeman's eagerly anticipated third novel turns out to be his best yet! Mike Yeager has lost so much, yet there is so much more he could lose with one wrong step. And you're right there with him, riding the ragged edge of disaster, through all the twists and turns, with all the vivid characters. And all the while you never lose sight of the recovering city of New Orleans, like a beloved eccentric uncle--endearing, infuriating, and heartbreaking.

I think I stopped reading just long enough to eat a meal, but I read it straight through on the day it arrived. This novel is intense!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptionally Crafted Thrller, May 27, 2009

By 

lla (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Broken Wing (Hardcover)

There are authors who can genuinely write - it's not so much about the stories that they tell, but in the way that they tell them. These are the guys who can give you a description of an empty restaurant and make it one of the most compelling things you've ever read. You might not be that wrapped up in the actual story, but the telling of it? Well, that's got you hooked.

Then there are them what can plot out a tale - a fabulous complex twisty tale that keeps you on the edge of your seat; who keep you up past your bedtime because you just can't stand the thought of not knowing what happens next. These guys often seem to be writing to a 3rd grade comprehension level (Grisham? Patterson? I mean you!) but you forgive that fact because the story itself just will not let you go...

And then, if you're lucky - if you're really really lucky? You stumble across someone like Thomas Lakeman. Lakeman can not only write like a house on fire (man, oh man does this guy have a stunning way with language!) but he can plot out a tale that is absolutely impossible to put down. He did it in "Chillwater Cove" and he's done it again here...

"Broken Wing" is a force with which to be reckoned - as is its protagonist, Mike Yaeger. There are a number of "wow! didn't see that one coming..." plot twists - some of which are really out there, coming just thisclose to the line of implausibility, but always, ALWAYS staying on the right side of it. (This, I believe, must be much trickier than it seems - so many novels of suspense tromp all over that line. I imagine it's done to make the narrative fresh and unexpected - but I always feel cheated when something is too far out there in terms of believability...)

My hat is off to Mr. Lakeman - and I eagerly look forward to what he writes next..